Train To Freedom
by MadnessJones
Summary: Wendy Jinxsprinkles lives a life of servitude and monotony, with only her silent friend Frank for company. She was taught that Cogs were evil and could only bring her more pain. Everything she thought she knew changes however when she meets a Legal Eagle, and it leads to an adventure she never thought was possible. Co-written with Carreract :)
1. All Work & No Play

_Author's Notes: Welcome to yet another story, and the second time I've attempted a Toontown fic. I'm not alone this time though. This idea is the brainchild of **Carreract**, and together we hope to make this story special. The first chapter is just an easy going introduction to let everyone get to know the characters, but eventually this will turn into a fic full of world exploration, drama, and adventure. Hope you guys enjoy, and if you want to please review :)_

* * *

Chapter 1

All Work & No Play

Pete the mail dog was making his appointed rounds through the estates outside Toon Central. He enjoyed his job of delivering mail to different Toons since he got the chance to socialize and see what all was going on all around town. He also made Toons happy, which was vitally important for both survival and fulfillment. The estates resided in a safe and joyful neighborhood, and the sounds of children and their parents laughing filled the air.

As Pete made his way down the street he passed by another dog going in the same direction. Pete knew this kid, a teenage Toon named Frank Deppin Loper, but most Toons just called him Frank. He didn't really talk as far as Pete could tell, but the lanky dull green pup had the most expressive face in town. The local mimes were eager to recruit him, and Pete could see why.

"Hey Frank, how's the weather up there?" Pete asked casually.

Frank cracked a sideways grin and made a pressing down motion with his hand; his way of calling Pete short.

"Fair enough," Pete replied nonchalantly, "You goin' to see that little friend of yours? What's her name, Winnie?"

Frank just shook his head incredulously. Her name was Wendy Jinxsprinkles, but he couldn't speak so he couldn't correct the innocently insensitive mail carrier. Instead Frank just looked ahead of himself and shifted the weight of his golf bag from one shoulder to the other.

"You goin' to Acorn Acres?" Pete asked, and Frank nodded, "I tell you what, that place ain't what it used to be. It scares me if I'm being honest, that golf course. Nobody hardly goes there no more since those awful Cogs put their Bossbot HQ next to it. They say even the trees have no color there, and the ground literally sucks out your Laff like chocolate milk through a straw."

Pete then shivered, accidentally scaring himself with his own story. For Toons their Laff was basically their soul, and Cogs knew how to wreck their Laff with little effort. Frank didn't offer feedback on the subject, and Pete didn't ask. The older Toons were free to pursue their own happiness and safety if they wanted to, but Frank and Wendy loved to golf and nothing was going to take away their time together. Frank just hoped that when he got to Wendy's house that she would be able to come out and play.

Pete followed Frank until they got to the estate of Sophie Moggytom and her husband Leo. Their home was always spotless, and painted a minimalist white. White was a weird color for a house in Toontown. Most houses were purple, blue, green, orange, or some other fun color. This one however was white, and Pete always wondered how they managed to do it. Sophie and Leo had three kids, including Wendy Jinxsprinkles, and that was who Frank was eager to see.

Pete stuffed a package into the mailbox, and then noticed Leo was sitting in his side yard in a lawn chair, drinking a soda and staring off into space.

"Howdy, Leo!" Pete greeted the grey cat warmly, "How's the family?"

"Uh...'s good, I guess," Leo drawled listlessly without turning to look at Pete.

Leo had once been a vibrant blue cat and one of the best Cog crushers in all of Toontown, but time and family life had gotten the better of the old grey cat, and these days he seemed checked out while his wife Sophie did all the heavy lifting for him. Pete sometimes wondered if Leo never recovered his Laff from the Cogs, because he pretty much acted like a lifeless husk all the time.

"So, I heard you and Sophie had a baby," Pete said awkwardly, trying still to be friendly to the unresponsive cat.

"Yeah," Leo rasped, "Sophie wanted me to watch her draw it, but I was busy. She named it Wacky or Macky or something like that. I forgot..."

"Oh, um...okay," Pete chuckled nervously while Leo continued looking up at the clouds.

There was a long pause, during which Frank did the smart thing and left the two adults to continue their _scintillating_ conversation. He had better things to do than watch those two, like find Wendy and go golfing.

When Frank made it inside the house, he wasn't exactly surprised to find a short fat orange cat in a rumpled nightgown barking orders at a tiny white mouse in a pink dress.

"Make sure you scrub those floors right this time!" Sophie Moggytom shouted at the petite mouse, who happened to be Wendy, "My knitting club is coming over later today, and this place needs to be perfect!"

"Yes, Mother," Wendy's tiny whisper of a voice replied.

Frank knew nobody noticed him yet, and likely wouldn't for a while. Rather than try to call attention to himself he just put down his golf clubs next to the door and took a seat near the TV Sophie was watching. She was watching some trashy reality show about Toons painting their fur odd colors and whatnot. It wasn't to Frank's taste, but he wasn't one to complain about free TV.

For the next few minutes Wendy continued to do chores. A lesser Toon would have gone sad long ago from the demands Sophie placed on her daughter. Wendy was expected to clean the house, cook their meals, do the dishes, wash their clothes in the big metal bucket out in the backyard, walk her brother's pet Doodle, take out the trash, and mow the lawn. Sometimes Frank wondered how poor Wendy was still alive.

This reverie was interrupted by the sound of a crying mewling infant. Frank covered his ears and Wendy looked to her mother, who only scowled at her.

"What?" Sophie all but dared Wendy to say something.

"N-Nothing, Mother," Wendy timidly replied.

"Hey, Ma!" An annoyingly loud voice screamed, "Wacky Macky won't stop crying!"

"Just give her a bottle, you _meowing _brat!" Sophie shouted in reply, "Seriously Tom, it's just a baby! I didn't raise you to be this lazy, so take care of it!"

"I'm not touching that thing! She still wears a diaper!" Tom protested, "Make Wendy do it!"

Wendy moaned softly to herself, but got up to answer her brother's call. Only as she got up though did she see that her best friend Frank was there, and he was getting up to handle the situation. Wendy sighed in relief before going back to scrubbing the floors.

Once in the room Frank saw Tom; Wendy's older brother and major pain in the butt. Tom had learned from his parents that Wendy Jinxsprinkles, despite being adopted into their family, was little more than a slave. Following the example of his elders, Tom likewise treated Wendy like dirt. Frank hated these people, but there wasn't much he could do about it. They were Wendy's family, and nothing Frank did would help her long-term.

Tom saw Frank, and quickly handed over the baby like she was a bomb waiting to explode. As soon as Frank had her Tom took off running and went outside. Wacky Macky, finally in the arms of someone who didn't sound like nails on a chalkboard, rested comfortably in Frank's arms. Not knowing what else to do, Frank took the sleeping kitten into the living room with him so he could see if Wendy was ready to go golfing. Hopefully her chores wouldn't take all day this time.

* * *

A few hours later, with the sun still thankfully shining in the sky, Frank and Wendy were walking through Donald's Dock to get to the golf course, with Wacky Macky contentedly sleeping in Wendy's golf bag. The baby was only comfortable with them, so they had to take her with them.

As they walked past the fishing hole, Wendy saw a fishing pole flung carelessly to the side of the bucket where all the rental poles went, and she picked it up and placed it back in the receptacle before rejoining Frank. Frank raised an eyebrow, and Wendy blushed sheepishly.

"You know how I feel about messes," Wendy said somewhat bashfully, "I'm just glad we got the chance to hang out together today. I've been very busy with preparing the house for Mother's knitting club party. I wish she would have rented a party place instead of letting her guests destroy the house, but she said it would cost too many jellybeans. I guess she's right."

Wendy then let out a helpless sigh, and Frank patted her back comfortingly. She smiled up at him, knowing she didn't need to explain further.

"Um, Frank? I just noticed a pile of old boots near the dock," Wendy said as she pointed out the mess, "Do you mind if I organize them by size and color?"

Frank facepalmed, knowing this was going to take a while, but he also knew it would eat away at Wendy if she didn't take care of it. He sat on the dock while Wendy started sorting and just hoped a game of fish bingo didn't start while he was taking up perfectly good fishing space.

"Thank you, Frank," Wendy said gratefully.

Frank just tapped on his wrist where a watch should be, indicating they didn't have all day. Wendy wasn't offended by the gesture. She knew he would wait for her. He always did.

Wendy and Frank didn't need to say anything to each other to understand their respective problems, wishes, and dreams. They had known each other their entire lives, thanks to both being sent to the Homes for Lovely Lonely Children orphanage when they were first drawn. Neither knew what happened to their parents, but tried to look ahead to the future. Wendy had been adopted by a family of cats, and at the time they both thought she had been the lucky one, but as it turned out that wasn't the case.

Wendy's parents saw how organized and clean she was, and took advantage of it to turn her into their servant. Frank meanwhile never got adopted, but managed to make a life for himself anyway. He had a bed at the orphanage, a golf bag and fishing pole, and people enjoyed his dance skills and facial impressions of Cogs and other Toons. Through it all Frank and Wendy remained friends, because they were both quiet and understood how to have fun without getting in other people's way.

"Last call for Acorn Acres!" A duck announced to everyone in the Dock.

"Goodness! We'd better hurry!" Wendy exclaimed.

Wendy left behind a mostly well arranged collection of old shoes, and she scurried at a quick pace to catch up with her much taller friend Frank, who was already almost there.

The pair of Toons found themselves to be the only ones in the well manicured grassy area, and rode a golf cart to the hardest level on the putting green. It would be a nice quiet peaceful day, which poor Wendy needed considering how loud and cruel her own home was these days.

...

For the first few holes the Toons were pretty evenly matched, but as the game went on Wendy got more birdies and holes in one, while Frank mostly got par; making it so Wendy was winning the game. Their competition was never mean spirited though, and Frank didn't mind that Wendy was winning. He just enjoyed having someone to play with.

On hole 7, just as Wendy was about to hit a hole in one, Wacky Macky woke up and started loudly crying, which made Wendy hit the ball too hard and lose it far beyond the hole. Wendy sighed, and Frank took the baby and started rocking it so Wendy could play.

"I'll go find the ball," Wendy sighed, and Frank nodded to let her know he heard her.

Wendy ran off the green and into the woods looking for her ball. As she went through the trees the forest got darker and darker, but then just as Wendy was about to give up looking for her ball she saw it resting on the gnarled roots a dead grey tree. She took a step to fetch it, but then stopped when she heard loud perfectly-timed footsteps.

Looking over the trunk of the dead tree, Wendy gasped when she saw what was on the other side. It was Bossbot HQ, and there were hundreds of Bossbot Cogs; smartly dressed in their brown business suits and ready for work.

Wendy squeaked in surprise and then held her breath when she realized one of them could have heard her. There was a Downsizer close to her location, and it stopped when she made that noise. Sweat poured down the nervous Toon's fur as the imposing figure got closer to her hiding place.

_Please don't find me! I'm too young to be depressed_! Wendy wished she could simply will the Cog away, and feared that she would be captured and saddened with no gags to defend herself.

The Downsizer looked at her tree, and she hugged the other side of the trunk as if she could simply melt into it and save herself. Of course she couldn't, and this looked like the end. The Downsizer then bent down, and Wendy shut her eyes tight. Instead of grabbing her however, the Bossbot instead grabbed the golf ball. The Downsizer then pocketed the ball and walked away, back to whatever job it was supposed to be doing. Realizing she had gotten lucky, Wendy wasted no time and ran away.

So many thoughts ran through Wendy's mind, mostly scary stories her father had told her about Cogs. She was only 12, so she had never fought a Cog herself, but she had always heard that Cogs were monsters that saddened Toons, took all their stuff, and then made fun of them just for good measure. They were the worst of bullies, and everything they did could hurt a Toon, even so much as talking!

Wendy ran all the way back to the green, and saw that Frank had already managed to get Wacky Macky back to sleep. Frank looked at her questioningly at seeing how terrified she looked, and she breathed in and out shakily to try to gather her thoughts.

"I...I saw it!" Wendy whispered frantically, "It's real!"

Frank just shrugged, not knowing what she was talking about.

"Bossbot Headquarters!" Wendy clarified his unspoken question, "I saw them! The Cogs! They're huge, and ugly, and everywhere! We need to go! Now!"

Wendy made to run away, but Frank just grabbed her arm to stop her from running. Wendy looked at him like he was crazy, and he let her go. He put Wacky back in the golf bag, and looked Wendy straight in the eye. He pointed to Bossbot HQ, _way_ over there, pointed to himself and Wendy, and then pointed to the ground where they were. He smiled as he bent down and rubbed the green grass, showing that the Cogs had not damaged the green and it still made them happy.

"I guess you're right," Wendy conceded, "The Cogs have never bothered this golf course, and they generally don't go too close to Donald's Dock's playground area. I guess we are safe after all. Okay. I'll concede this hole to you if you let me borrow one of your golf balls. Deal?"

Frank gave her a thumbs up. They had a deal.

The Toons grabbed the baby and their golf bags, and then moved on to a hole further away from Bossbot HQ. Wendy eventually forgot how frightened she was, but she didn't think she'd ever forget seeing so many Cogs. For some reason she never pictured their suits being brown. She always pictured Cogs as being taller, with blue suits and faces of purple and green. She shrugged to herself, not knowing where she would get such a notion, and hoped she never had to encounter another Cog again.


	2. A Clean Break

Chapter 2

A Clean Break

By the time Wendy got home from the golf course the sun had receded away and the moon and its stars had taken their place in the night sky. The night should have been quiet, especially since the estates were located in areas without background music. It wasn't quiet however, and music _could_ be heard. The disturbance came from none other than Wendy's house, and the music was the result of her mother's knitting club getting together for a party.

The backyard had all sorts of games rented. There was a cannon to shoot Toons out of so they could hit targets on the ground. There were picnic tables full of snacks. There were trampolines and a bouncy castle. In short, everything that made for a great Toony party and a big mess for Wendy to clean up in the morning.

Wendy did her best to not call attention to herself as she pushed through the crowd of older Toons partying outside. She was small, so she could run through most of their legs without anyone taking notice. When she made it in the house she sighed in relief, only to notice that there were even more Toons inside! They were dancing, drinking punch, and throwing ping pong balls into her mother's giant vase. That would be yet another thing that Wendy would have to clean up.

Knowing she would have a full day tomorrow, Wendy decided to go to her room to try to get some sleep. It would be difficult to sleep with all the blaring music and shouting crowds, but she would try her best. As she went down the hall she tripped on a ball of yarn, and a pink cat hissed at her.

"You almost ruined my afghan!" The cat scolded her.

"Sorry, ma'am," Wendy whispered a quick apology before scurrying off.

Wendy soon realized that there were many Toons in the hallway sewing and knitting, which meant there was yarn everywhere. She would have to be very careful to not step on anything. Wendy carefully tiptoed past every strand of yarn and every spool of thread as she gradually made her way to the sanctuary of her room.

She finally made it to her bedroom after all that finagling, only to see two Toons were already there. A female pig and a male crocodile were pulling the thread from her blanket; unraveling the whole thing!

"What are you doing!?" Wendy shrieked in horror.

"We needed more blue yarn," The crocodile replied unapologetically, "This is perfect."

The pair of unruly Toons then left, each carrying an armload of what used to be Wendy's blanket. She wanted to cry. That was one of the few things her mother had actually made for her. One of the few nice things her mother ever did for her. She wanted to just break down, but she was too drained, so Wendy just sat on her bare mattress and sulked.

She looked up at the stars as she tried to go to sleep. The music was still thrumming through her ears like an angry fly, and the shouts and curses of the partygoers were penetrating the shielding of her bedroom door and infiltrating her sanctuary. She tried to distract herself with thoughts of the golf game, only to be assaulted by the image of the Cog that almost found her.

For some reason she still had vague images of a green Cog inside her mind. One that wore a head mirror and a blue suit. She didn't know the name of every type of Cog, but she was pretty sure what she was imagining was a Lawbot of some sort.

Of course the real monsters in Wendy's life were her parents and their rowdy friends. She knew tomorrow she would wake up to her mother yelling at her to clean up the mess she didn't even have a part in making, and then her brother would pawn off their baby sister to her again. She couldn't even have one day where she wasn't at the mercy of their whims, hard as she tried.

This day had started out so well, but had ended in disaster. Wendy just knew tomorrow would be even worse.

* * *

The next day Frank walked over to Wendy's house to see how she was doing. He knew her parents got annoyed that he came over so much, but he also knew he was a dog and they were cats, so he could handle himself against them if it ever came to that. For today, he just wanted to see if Wendy wanted to work a jigsaw puzzle with him.

When he got to the Moggytom/Leo residence he was surprised by the mess. There were stains on their white house and garbage in the grass. If Wendy hadn't dealt with this yet it meant the inside of the house must have been a disaster. Knowing he was probably walking into a powder keg, Frank gingerly stepped up to the door and went inside.

Just as expected, Wendy was fishing ping pong balls out of the giant vase in the living room and putting them into an infinity sack for safe keeping. Sophie had drank too much punch the previous night and was nursing a headache while sitting in her favorite chair. Leo was nowhere to be found, and Tom could be heard in the background shouting at the crying baby.

Without saying a word, Frank went over and started helping Wendy scoop out ping pong balls. He knew he could just leave, but he also knew Wendy couldn't, and right now she needed his help. She looked up to see Frank assisting in her cleanup efforts, and she sniffed back tears as she smiled gratefully. She didn't need to say thank you. As far as Frank was concerned she already said it.

...

It took several hours to clean up the trashed house, and every now and then Wendy would have to stop in order to help Tom take care of the baby. Sophie Moggytom eventually passed out again, and Leo would walk in every now and then to see the two kids cleaning. Rather than help them out however he would mostly just stand there and stare, and then eventually go back outside to sit in his lawn chair.

While Frank was cleaning up some trash outside he picked up a random piece of paper to throw in the infinity garbage bag. When he looked at it however he couldn't help but stare. It was a travel poster for The Brrrgh, the coldest place in all of Toontown. Frank had heard good things about The Brrrgh. It had the world's smallest fishing hole, which made it great for fish bingo players. It was a place where the citizens were super cheerful and the snowflakes could restore Laff energy. Not to mention ice skating. It was the only place in all of Toontown for ice skating. All that ice and snow also made everything look clean, which Frank knew was something Wendy needed right now.

The idea grew stronger in Frank's head the more he thought about it. Wendy needed a vacation. A way to restore her Laff. A way to get away from her nasty ungrateful family. A way to relax again.

Wendy walked up to him, picking up trash with a pointy stick and shoving it into the infinity bags. The bags worked on the same principle as the teleportation holes used to get from one playground to another. Frank had a teleport hole, but it only went to Goofy's Speedway and the golf course since that was where he spent most of his time.

One piece of trash after another disappeared forever into the null void as Wendy softly hummed and worked. She was in the zone at the moment, but that concentration was soon broken when she accidentally bumped into Frank. Frank silently laughed at his friend's aloofness, and then showed her the poster he had picked up off the ground.

"Um, yes, it's a nice poster," Wendy replied, not understanding what he was trying to say, "Um...I guess you can keep it if you want. Whoever had it isn't coming back for it, and it would look nice above your bed at the orphanage."

Frank facepalmed, and then shoved the poster at her insistently while pointing to the lettering above the scenery.

"Come...visit...The Brrrgh," Wendy read off slowly, "Oh! Are you going to The Brrrgh? Oh, well, I hope you enjoy your trip there. Bring me back some pictures for my schtickerbook."

Frank looked at her with a face that just screamed 'Really? You're still not getting this?'. Wendy scrunched up her eyebrows in thought and tried to figure out what her friend could possibly be trying to say to her. Finally a light bulb appeared above her head and she instantly got it.

"Oh! You want to take _me_ to The Brrrgh?" Wendy asked with dawning comprehension.

Frank nodded vigorously.

"Um, well, that's very generous of you, but..." Wendy fiddled with her skirt and avoided eye contact as she spoke, "...I've never been beyond Donald's Dock. I've heard that the Cogs in The Brrrgh are incredibly powerful, and that the Toons there are all warriors that infiltrate Cog controlled buildings like they're nothing. What if someone asked us to help? My Laff is only 15, and I don't carry so much as a cupcake for protection. You're no better off than I, so why should we risk it?"

Frank just smirked at her and pointed to the poster again, this time showing happy Toons ice skating around an igloo.

"It does look like fun..." Wendy had to admit, "But my parents would never allow me to go on such a long and crazy adventure."

Frank's answer was simply to jab a thumb at the window, where Sophie Moggytom could be seen snoozing away in her favorite armchair. He then pointed to Leo, who was staring up at clouds like usual. Then he gave Wendy a sideways smile, as if to say 'What they don't know won't hurt them'.

Wendy smiled, but it was a small uncomfortable smile. She could feel her Laff energy rising already with anticipation, but she felt so unsure of herself. If Frank left it wouldn't matter. The caretakers understood he was getting older and didn't hold him back, but Wendy's family needed their favorite punching bag and babysitter right where she would be the most useful.

It wasn't like Wendy never rebelled. She painted the house white, the color of her fur, just because she knew the lack of color was untoony and made them look bad. She even managed their piggy bank's jellybeans and would often tell them they didn't have enough funds for things they could obviously afford. She fought back in her own silent way, but to be so blatant as to leave for an entire afternoon without telling them...that was a lot to ask of her.

"Do you think we can get back before dark?" Wendy asked tentatively.

Frank just shrugged nonchalantly, as if to say 'Who cares?'

Wendy bit her lower lip apprehensively, but then looked back up at Frank with eyes that shone with childlike desire. Life was short, and she just wanted one day where she could have fun in a strange and wonderful land. A place without growling stinky adults telling her she couldn't do anything.

"Alright," Wendy whispered cautiously, "I'm in."

* * *

When the pair of Toons made it to The Brrrgh they were surprised to find it totally deserted. It was cold, much colder than any place Wendy had ever been to, but everything sparkled like diamonds and there was a certain peace to the area that made her feel good. Frank was right. Everything was clean, powdery, and free. The ice rink was also available since there was no one in the playground.

Frank ran ahead of Wendy to start skating, only to realize he was in his bare feet and wouldn't be able to maintain his balance. He slipped and fell into the fishing hole, where he froze into an ice cube on the spot. Wendy could still hear his teeth chatter beneath the ice as she lifted him out of the water, and when she broke his icy coffin against the ground he started shivering like there was no tomorrow.

"Well, that was a bust," Wendy sighed disappointedly.

Frank shook his head even as he shivered, and then pointed to his feet.

"But where are we going to get ice skates?" Wendy asked, "I don't have any jellybeans."

Frank then pulled out his own pouch of jellybeans, and Wendy smiled, knowing that he meant he would cover for her to get a pair too. Wendy offered her hand to help Frank, but she couldn't pull him all the way up since she was so much smaller than him. The lanky dog still managed to get up with what little help Wendy could offer, and together they decided to try to find a store that sold ice skates.

"We came through Walrus Way..." Wendy pondered out loud, "And we didn't see any shops for what we needed. So, our best options would either be on Sleet Street or Polar Place. Which way do you think we should go, Frank?"

Frank just shrugged, so Wendy had to make the decision herself. When confronted with difficult options, she did what any good Toon would do...

"Eeny, Meeny, Minnie, Moe..." Wendy went back and forth with her fingers as she pointed to each tunnel, "Catch a Flunky by the toe. If he hollers make him pay, 50 Cogbucks every day. My mama told me to pick the very best one and you...are...it! Polar Place."

Frank nodded in agreement, and the duo ran toward the tunnel for Polar Place. So many warning signs around tunnels were practical jokes that said 'Watch Out! Made You Look!', so it was little surprise that they paid no attention to the warning sign in front of this particular tunnel. If they had they might have known that at the end of this street was a place that every Toon dreaded...Lawbot HQ.

* * *

About 20 minutes later, Wendy and Frank had to admit to each other that they were lost. They had found many buildings, including many that had gone grey due to a Cog takeover, but no place seemed to sell ice skating supplies. At least, none of them that were still run by Toons. The pair had decided to turn back around to go down Sleet Street, but they could no longer find their way back to the tunnel. They were lost, and worse yet, the place was crawling with Cogs.

Every time they saw a tall imposing metallic creature the Toons would hide behind a frozen mailbox or a pine tree in the hopes of evading the ghastly fiends. Every one of them looked so surly, so evil, so...untoony.

"What do we do?" Wendy squeaked quietly as she and Frank found themselves hiding behind a pillar, "They're hideous, and I heard from Father that Cogs will actually capture Toons and...*gulp*...erase them."

Frank just patted her gloved hand to comfort her, and looked around again to see if they could find any powerful Toons to protect them. He heard that Ubers and High Laff Toons frequented The Brrrgh because it was a great place for them to train. He just wished some of those Toons would come their way now.

"We have to make a break for it," Wendy whispered, "I think the coast is clear."

Frank nodded, and together they made their way out of their hiding place. They walked down the snowy street for a few feet, but then Wendy bumped into something hard and looked up to see what it was. Looking down at her with a malicious scowl was a Cog! It had a sickly white face, wore a blue suit, and had glistening sharp fangs. It looked like some sort of ghoul come to suck the Laff right out of them.

Wendy had seen these Cogs before, but she couldn't remember what they were called. Blood banks? No. Blood drivers? No, that sounded ridiculous.

"I'm surprised you found me. I'm very mobile," The Cog said in a creepy robotic monotone before pulling a long red roll of tape.

"AAAHH!" Wendy screamed, and she and Frank took off running.

The Toons tried to put as much distance between them and the Cog as possible, and the one thing they blessedly had on their side was that Cogs were very slow due to how heavy they were. The phantom Cog ran after them, well more like power-walked after them, but it wasn't able to catch up. Every now and then Wendy would look behind her to see if the Cog was still there, and of course it always was. She looked to see how Frank was holding up, only to find he wasn't beside her anymore. They had been separated!

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Wendy cried out in panic.

She was so intent on losing the pursuing Cog that she didn't even look where she was going. She turned around one curve in the street after another, and soon she was lost completely. Still the Cog continued to give chase. Wendy was sure she would be saddened, captured, depressed, erased! Just as all hope seemed lost however, she saw a tunnel up ahead. She sprinted for the tunnel with the last bit of energy she had left, and when she came out the other side she looked around to see a giant statue and some sort of gathering place for Cogs.

"Oh no..." Wendy whispered.

She saw the Cog that had been chasing her enter the tunnel, and saw that she was surrounded on all sides by even more Cogs that had not yet seen her. There was only one staircase where nobody was looking, so she took a chance and ran up it; hoping it led to an exit. When she made it up the stairs she was inside the building, and she had to stop and take a look at this strange new location.

"What _is_ this place?" Wendy whispered to herself.

She found herself in a giant building, bigger than anything she had ever seen. The floors were perfectly polished, large gilded books lined the walls, and the ceiling seemed to go on forever. It took her breath away. Everything was so organized, so shiny, so...perfect. For a moment she just stared, but then at the sound of footsteps remembered why she ran in here in the first place. The monster Cog was right behind her!

She turned around, but it wasn't the same Cog staring down at her. This one was purple and had a pointy head. He looked surprised, and then angry. Wendy gulped, wondering how strong the Cog must be to take over a building this massive.

"Hey, guys!" The new Cog shouted, "There's a Toon in the DA's office! Prepare to attack!"

"DA's office?" Wendy muttered softly even as she backed away from the Cog, "You mean this is...Lawbot HQ?"

"Hey, my Toon!" The first Cog hollered, "You can't sadden her, Patrick! This is my job!"

"Go away, Drake!" The new Cog snapped, "You let a Toon in here. I bet the Chief Justice demotes you back to Bottom Feeder!"

"Still sounds better than your job, _Backstabber_!" The first Cog retorted.

Wendy used this temporary argument to her advantage and ran away. The arguing Cogs were blocking the front entrance, so the only thing she could do was run further into the building.

She wanted to cry as she went down hallway after hallway and couldn't find a way out. Every time she heard cog footsteps she hid behind a bookshelf or under a rug. For some reason her teleport hole wasn't working in this building. Then she remembered. Of course it wasn't. She only knew how to teleport back to playgrounds, but there was no playground here. This place belonged to Cogs, and they never did anything fun or Toony. She had to find a window or something to sneak out of. She only hoped Frank hadn't also found himself in this awful place.

Wendy continued to sneak from one place to another, dodging spotlights and Cogs. She even saw some Cogs that looked like nothing more than metallic skeletons, and those were perhaps the scariest of all. She needed to find a place where she could be safe.

"I can't believe Father used to fight these things," Wendy said to herself, "No wonder he's such a grouch. I wonder what Mother's excuse is then. Tee hee..."

Wendy tried to distract herself with funny thoughts in the hopes that this place wouldn't take her Laff away. She was a rank amateur; a 15 Laffer. She had no business being anywhere near this place, yet she didn't know how to get out.

Just as she was about to turn a corner, she saw a pair of Cogs coming her way. They hadn't seen her yet, but she was in the middle of the hallway. Out in the open. She would be captured! She needed a way out and fast!

Looking frantically around, Wendy found a door and prayed it wasn't locked. It opened! Yes! Wendy ran inside and shut the door behind her, hoping the Cogs didn't notice what she had done.

* * *

A few minutes earlier, Legal Eagle LE 2003-13-08-M11, more casually known as Kevin Buzzard, was working dutifully at his desk on an upcoming case involving a Micromanager suing a Pencil Pusher for not doing things her way. Kevin sighed at the litigiousness of Micromanagers. It seemed like they were always suing their coworkers and making more work for Lawbots like him.

He had already turned down two invitations to celebrate newly acquired Toon buildings. Everyone thought Kevin was a stick in the mud, and to be fair he was, but it was his prerogative if he would rather keep his spotless punctuality record as opposed to wasting time worrying about Toons and takeovers.

His phone rang, and he answered it with his standard greeting of "Kevin Buzzard. Attorney at law."

"Hey, it's Phoenix Wright!" The distorted voice on the other end slurred, "Im'a let you finish your documents, but I just wanted to let you know, you'll never *hic* get promoted if you don't get out there and...shake it up a little. Hah!"

"You sound like a Sellbot, Harry," Kevin said as he rolled his eyes, "So, how's the party? You know, the one you went to instead of helping me with our case?"

"Stupendous!" Kevin's coworker, a Big Wig named Harry Combover, shouted on the other end of the phone, "Sorry you couldn't be here. I love ya, you big ugly _barping_ dork! Ooh, shrimp and oil cocktails! Bye-yuh!"

Kevin heard the phone being slammed on the other end, but it didn't quite hang up because he could still hear Harry making a pass at a Mingler on the other end. Blasted Sellbots. They were such a bad influence on Lawbot HQ. Almost as bad as Toons. Well, maybe not that bad, Kevin rescinded in his mind.

He went back to filing his paperwork, content to deal with the cases not quite important enough for the CJ but too important for a lesser Lawbot like a Bloodsucker or a Double Talker. He wanted to add Big Wigs to that list, especially ever since he was assigned to share case loads with Harry. He might've been a Big Wig, but he had the work ethic of a Robber Baron. Harry was content to let Kevin do everything while he slacked off, and it made Kevin feel like he was being taken advantage of.

Oh well, at least Kevin had his nice quiet office and his beautiful wooden desk. It had been given to him by a client that had stolen it from a Toon. Kevin didn't know how Cogs that went into Toontown could stand it. He had heard from colleagues that Toontown was a land with many opportunities for profit, but it just didn't seem worth it. Toons were so disorganized, so dirty, so...imperfect. No, Kevin didn't want to fight or interact with Toons at all. He preferred sitting at a desk and debating precedents in a courtroom, thank you very much.

Just as he was finishing up with the Micromanager vs. Pencil Pusher case his door suddenly opened. Odd. He wasn't expecting anyone. He looked up from his papers to see who it was, but there was no one there. Now that was odd. The door specifically opened, he was sure of it.

Kevin got out of his chair and went around the desk. At first he thought it might be the Micromanager coming to check on her case. They were so barping small it would be easy to miss one. He looked down, but it wasn't a Micromanager or even a Cog in front of him. Instead he was staring into the frightened Toony face of a little white mouse!


	3. Terms and Services

**_Carreract: _**_Hello anyone reading this. It's Carrera, the mind behind "Train to Freedom". I hope you are enjoying this series that **MadnessJones** and I are making. A very special thanks to her for working with me to get this story written down into a promising series._

**_MadnessJones:_**_ Thank you too **Carreract **for working with me. Hopefully together we can make this Toontown story a special one for our readers. Also to anyone reading this fic, thank you for tuning in! I hope you'll keep reading and maybe even review if you feel like it :)_

* * *

Chapter 3

Terms and Services

As Kevin looked down at the toon, his instincts were slow to kick in. Seeing her cradling into a ball not even aware of him would give him the easiest victory for the Lawbots in a long while, and with it a handy cogbuck bonus. Finally after a long silence, besides the little mouse's stressed sobs, he pulled out his pet mechanical birds to peck at her head, but something about this situation told him it was wrong. He was unsure for a moment, his birds eager to be sent her way, but he remembered why all at once. She had not initiated the fight between them. He would be the aggressor, and that was no good for someone of his spotless record. After a moment of internal debate, he decided he would rather be destroyed than to be sued for attacking first.

So he put his birds back in his pocket, much to their disappointment, and tapped the little mouse on the shoulder. With as much of a perfect robotic tone as he could get out of his voice box he said firmly to her, "I'm bringing down the law on you!"

Wendy nearly jumped out of her fur upon hearing his voice and whipped around to see the vastly taller Legal Eagle peering down at her.

Oh no! This was it, she was doomed. He could easily depress her in a single hit considering his size, she reasoned. In her panic she fell on her back and pushed backwards to scoot away from him as fast as she could until she bumped her head against the wall; now completely trapped by the gargantuan Cog.

Tears fell from her eyes like a faucet after being confronted with her own demise, and she squeezed them shut; praying that being erased wouldn't be painful to go through.

Kevin stared down at the tiny mouse in bewilderment. He had never seen a Toon react this way. He was only one Cog. He no longer had the element of surprise. She could easily handle him now that his advantage was gone. Only high ranking Toons ever came here, so surely she had gone through many Cog battles before this one, right?

However, with no change in the situation at all between the two of them Kevin chirped in frustration; a bit perplexed on what in the name of the Chairman was he supposed to do about this. She wasn't fighting him at all, not even threatening or being a nuisance to him.

"What kind of gag is this, Toon? Surely this has to be some kind of distraction, right?" Kevin carefully scanned his room to see if any other Toons were about to spring some kind of trap.

Finding nothing, he looked over at the door to see that it was still closed. No Toon could go through solid objects, right? That meant there were likely no Toons ready to ambush him from there.

Realizing that throughout his scan that the mouse had not even so much as moved from her last position, he tried again.

"Toon, why are you acting so...depressed? I have not even attacked yet."

The frightened Toon slowly lifted her head towards him, confused as to why he was still just standing there instead of depressing her on the spot. Almost breathlessly she squeaked out, her voice barely audible to the massive Cog, "Wh-what are you waiting for?"

Had Kevin not been a robot eagle, he probably would not be capable of making out what she had just said, but he was programmed with a much greater hearing sensitivity with receiver volume adjuster so he could still travel to loud places without it being unbearable. One of Kevin's metallic eyebrows quirked up higher than the other, as if he was caught off guard.

Indeed he was, almost stunned that a Toon had practically just asked when he was gonna attack them first. This wouldn't do at all. Toons _always_ struck first, that was the rules after all. With a bit of grumbling he asks her another question.

"What kind of question is that, Toon? Toons always strike first. You must strike me to begin our little fight."

Hearing this declaration startled little Wendy, and she pressed harder against the wall.

"I don't want to fight!" Wendy shouted desperately, "Don't depress me! Please, I'm begging you, just let me go! I can't go sad! I don't want to be erased!"

"_Erased_? That is ridiculous. Do you really think I would want to be scrapped?" The metallic eagle harrumphed as he crossed his arms; clearly offended by the accusation.

"You...D-don't want to erase me?" Wendy asked as tears streamed down her face, "But.. I thought that's what you Cogs did..."

Right as Kevin was about to answer, it finally hit him.

"Just how old are you, Toon?"

"I'm 12..." She barely squeaked out, tears still falling down.

This flat-out shocked the Legal Eagle. This Toon was just a kid! Almost flabbergasted as he shook his head and walked to the side slowly, he wasn't quite sure what to do with this new information.

"Good Chairman...what in Cogtown are these Toons telling their offspring?" He muttered before turning toward her again, "What are you even doing here? This is a place for adults."

"I got lost..." Wendy muttered out; embarrassed.

The Legal Eagle stared down at her. "Well...in simple terms, it's time for you to get lost again: back home. You are legally too small and too young for me to fight."

Wendy looked back up at him; shocked by his decision. Weren't Cogs meant to be merciless depressing machines? Why did he want her to just go home? On the other hand, she really wanted to escape whatever place this was. What if a different cog found her? Then again she did have another problem, which she eventually worked up the courage to tell him.

"I...can't...I don't know how to get home," Wendy confessed, "I got lost, don't you remember? I don't know what path I took...I was just trying to escape this wicked looking Cog chasing after me."

"Well now, that's hardly my problem. Good day now, safe travels," Kevin practically ushered her away.

With this, Kevin marched back to his desk and sat down, sighing as he bent his knees. However, Wendy did not move within the 10 seconds he expected, which began to annoy him. He had a case to deal with and Chairman knows how impatient Micromanagers can be!

"What are you waiting for? Get out of my office, if you please," Kevin ordered as he placed his arms on his desk and intwined his fingers to give a very businesslike stance.

The little mouse slowly got to her feet, but instead of leaving she walked over to his desk and hopped onto the chair facing him that was meant for his clients when they were discussing court dates or fines and their terms. Now this blasted Toon was getting in it with no permission whatsoever!

"That chair is for clients only. Get off of it. You're pushing my patience," Kevin ground out, raising his voice ever so slightly to encourage the notion that he was giving her legal notice that he would have to retaliate without outright saying it.

However, Wendy had suddenly set her mind to staying longer. Curiosity now outweighed her fear. This sudden shift clicked in her since the Legal Eagle had not simply removed her from existence, but rather wanted nothing more than for her to walk out the door. She just had to know why...not to mention she still needed a way to get home.

"Well...maybe I am your client now then...since I am stuck here with no safe way to get home," Wendy suggested, "It's very cold out there, Mr. Eagle. What if I freeze? Surely...that would be your fault, right?"

Kevin raised one of his eyebrows again and leaned over his desk closer to her to appear more intimidating.

"Preposterous! I have no responsibility for keeping tabs on a trespasser. You got yourself into this, and you can get yourself out," Kevin replied haughtily.

"You do too!" Wendy protested defiantly, "It was one of your kind that chased me into this building. If you are all the same group or something, then you share the fact that someone like you pushed me into this situation, and now you're just trying to push me out onto the street again."

Kevin had to admit, this Toon child was rather impressive in her defense case. Better than any adult Toon he had tried against so many times. Especially that bear who was always getting sued, and naturally the Toons' only way to save him was to cause crate loads of Contempt of Courts and to cause a total mistrial by stunning legitimate lawyers; overthrowing an unbiased jury and ignoring all forms of court etiquette. At least this little Toon was trying to argue instead of mess everything up.

After thinking over his options for at least a minute, he decided to heed her argument.

"Fine, you may stay, but you must stay right there, exactly in that chair, and not move an inch. I cannot allow you to mess anything up. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," Wendy whispered, but inside she was relieved she would be led home soon enough. Being yelled at by her mother was no fun at all, but it certainly beat freezing into a block of ice like Frank...

Oh, Frank! How she hoped he was okay. No doubt he was probably panicking over her. Surely it had been at least an hour now since they were separated.

At first she did obey the Cog's orders, but alas, she still was a Toon and much like any other Toon, she was getting very bored of just sitting there doing nothing. After a mere 5 minutes there was still nothing of interest besides the Legal Eagle's hand guiding his pen across the papers on his desk making various words in a pretty cursive writing. She always wanted to learn to write in cursive, but there wasn't anyone who could teach her or if they could, they wouldn't. In her mind, this was her chance to learn, or at the very least _do_ something.

With as much courage as she could muster, she slowly leaned forward. The Cog did not give any reaction to the movement, so she tried to lean closer to the papers. They were almost hypnotizing, how perfectly written they were. If only she could just get closer...

"I said no moving from that chair," Said the Legal Eagle with a bit of an edge in his voice.

Wendy nearly jumped out of that very chair at the sound of his voice, but after a minute she regained some of her composer and squeaked out a question.

"What are you writing, sir?"

His hand stopped for a moment; just long enough to respond.

"Nothing Toon-related, so sit there and be quiet. This is important work. Especially when it's just _one_ Cog doing it..." he muttered the last part; clearly not interested in talking to her.

"What do you mean? It's a two Cog project?" Wendy asked timidly.

Kevin sighed frustratedly. Clearly this Toon was not going to obey his orders exactly. He had no intention of depressing a child Toon, but he was not going to say that part to ensure she didn't try to mess up his office, and more importantly, his desk. His desk had served him for many years and he did not need it covered in cakes and liquids and whatever else Toons liked to use to destroy his fellow Cogs. A mild debate in his mind took place to determine whether he should try to entertain her a little bit since it seemed like an innocent question or whether to keep her quiet. He decided to give it a chance and see if answering her question would shut her up.

"Yes. It is a two Cog project, but my colleague has other priorities rather than helping me with these cases," Kevin explained without any emotion or even stopping his writing.

"That doesn't sound very kind of him to do to you. Maybe you need a new partner," Wendy replied sympathetically, though it was obvious what she was hinting at.

"A new one would be very nice, yes, but I need a partner for business. Not a playmate," Kevin replied icily, knowing exactly what she meant.

Wendy, rather than becoming sad, nodded slowly and looked down at his work; curiosity and confidence growing inside of her.

"You have very nice handwriting," Wendy commented offhandedly.

"Yes. It is perfect. Exactly as it is meant to be," Kevin replied without any sort of emotion yet again.

"Do...you think you can teach me to write like that?" Wendy inquired apprehensively.

Hearing this finally caused Kevin to stop writing and then look across the desk at her. Now this was quite a surprise. Was she really asking him to learn cursive? It was not a one day learning process. This would mean she would try to come back. An absolutely terrible idea.

"Absolutely not. I want you gone as soon as possible and never coming back," Kevin answered firmly.

Now it was Wendy's turn to get a little annoyed. Just this _one_ _thing_. It wasn't too much to ask. Just to let her learn cursive. It would be such a lovely talent for her to acquire as a skill. Then she noticed all the papers covering his desk. Surely some had to be done, right? She had to try.

"Are some of those papers done?" Wendy asked.

"Some," Kevin replied curtly.

"Maybe...I coul-" she starts to say before Kevin cuts in.

"No. You are not to touch these papers at all. Just sit there and be quiet," Kevin snapped at her before she could even finish her question.

"But...but...you were saying you would like a new partner. Please let me prove that I can help!" She suddenly blurted out. This came off sounding more desperate than she meant and she blushed at how bad it sounded.

The Cog slowly and deliberately placed his pen down and stared at her; mentally scanning her expression to see what kind of gag this had to be. A Toon wanting to help a Cog with _work_? This day just kept getting more and more unusual.

"You. A Toon. Want to help me with work?" Kevin asked for confirmation, "You understand this is not fun work, correct?"

"Yes, but I like organizing. Please, I can organize all those papers any way you ask. Let me prove it. Where would they go?" She asked as she stood up in the chair; still too short to be taller than the back of the chair itself.

Kevin took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. It would be nice to have someone else organizing his works.

"Fine, but one wrong move and I will get some of the Ambulance Chaser's red tape to strap you to the chair until I finish my work for the day."

"Deal. Where does it all go?" She asked as she hopped onto his desk.

She was too short to reach over the desk so she was standing on it with her dirty feet, which annoyed him a lot, but he decided to let it go seeing that she was not wearing shoes. At least that way there were no clumps of dirt on his pristine desk.

"It's simple. Alphabetical order on the top shelf of the fourth filing cabinet. Nothing more. Get to it," Kevin ordered, "I'm watching you, and that causes delays for me."

She nodded quickly and grabbed all the papers that were complete. She then proceeded to get them all into one stack and lifted it up; grunting at the heavy stack of papers...well, heavy to someone her size. She then jumped onto her chair, onto the ground, and then scurried over to the filing cabinet.

She then turned her gaze upward to the desired shelf. It was only chest level to some like Kevin, but it might as well have been the next floor up for Wendy. But she needed to prove she can do it; somehow, someway.

Just as she was starting to feel her Laff meter go down in despair, it suddenly clicked with her what to do. She placed the papers on the ground and went to the far left cabinet to open the bottom drawer. She then pulled the second from the ground drawer on the next filing cabinet, and repeated this process until she could reach up to the target cabinet with her makeshift staircase.

With some effort she leapt up each 'step' and placed the papers on top of the cabinet, and then pulled the top paper to reach the first letter.

Seeing a G, she licks her finger and leafs through the papers until she finds the G tab, and then sticks it in the correct order with the other G's.

The Legal Eagle watched her like a hawk the entire time to make sure she wasn't trying anything Toony. Wendy was almost done with her task before Kevin felt comfortable returning to his own work. She could tell he was very aware of her motion, but she knew she just needed to finish the task and then she could see if she could talk to him more.

Finally she was finished with the organizing. She was actually exhausted from all the scanning and bending and moving of files, but she still looked over to him; eagerly awaiting his response to her completion of her task.

"I must say, I am impressed. I have never seen a Toon try to be organized," Kevin admitted once he went through the cabinet to ensure everything was done correctly, "So, what makes you want this job, anyways?"

The little mouse blushed a bit at his reaction and shyly replied, "Well...I've always loved to be organized. I would love to help with other things that you need done. May I have that chance?"

He pondered this request carefully. He really could use the help, but a Toon working for him probably wasn't the most legal thing he could allow. Then again, there wasn't a law actually forbidding it; more of a social law than anything. He would have to test this to see if it was worth the risk.

"I will run a trial for you. Come back here tomorrow at 11:00 AM sharp and I will give you some new tasks to do. Do not be late."

Wendy nearly shierked in delight but she held her tongue. However, her excitement faded quickly when she remembered where she had to go. _Home_. She was so going to be grounded and forbidden to leave. This was bad news. How could she get back if she couldn't leave?

"I would love to...I uh...really would, just...I don't know if my home will let me leave tomorrow," Wendy admitted.

"It must be tomorrow. You have to prove your reliability. This is a job, not a game," Kevin huffed without empathy.

"Please! I need this. I will do everything I can to return. Please don't forget me if I cannot come tomorrow!" Wendy cried out as tears filled her eyes. She was so close to her undiscovered dream. She wanted to stay here longer.

Kevin looked down at the little Toon. Never before had he seen a Toon so young trying to work for the Cogs. Toons working for Cogs was nothing new, but one as young as this mouse throwing herself at him trying to work for him? _Him_, a Lawbot? Most Toons went for the sellbots after all. Well how else was he supposed to react? He wasn't a dream crusher after all.

"Oh, fine," Kevin relented, "However it is tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Nothing more, got it?"

"YES! I won't let you down, I promise!" Wendy exclaimed with joy.

"Settle down. Anyways, that's all for today. Go home now. There is nothing more for either of us," Kevin said as he got up and stuck a few papers in his briefcase. He then opened the door and held it open for her, "Come on, just walk beside me. I have not forgotten my end of the deal so I will get you as close to the playground as I can safely."

Excited to work with him, and to also escape this place for the day, Wendy scurried through the door and followed Kevin through all of the winding hallways to the elevator. Once there he pushed the _down_ arrow, and after a short while the doors opened to an unoccupied elevator shaft that they both got in.

A short trip later they arrived in the DA Lobby and walked towards the doors into the Courtyard, which took no time at all, and passed through the tunnel back into The Brrrgh.

The pair walked languidly down the street, completely void of Toons. Every now and then they would pass a Cog, which didn't scare Wendy quite as badly as before since she was with Kevin. Part of her still expected one of them to attack her, but most were content to glance and walk away.

"Why aren't they reacting to me like that one Cog did?" Wendy pondered aloud.

"They see you walking with me. They know I am escorting you back already since we are both still walking and not staring off at each other waiting for the battle to begin," Kevin explained.

Although Kevin hated playgrounds and being near them, he liked the coldness of The Brrrgh. As long as he didn't need to go through the tunnel into the playground itself, he assumed he would be fine considering how empty this district had been reported to be lately.

Eventually they arrived at the last tunnel dividing the streets and the playground without incident. It was too cold for Wendy to try to strike up anymore of a conversation during their walking considering the sun had fallen away which was only making it colder. Kevin handed Wendy a map for her to get back to the HQ with less trouble and a very limited access keycard to get past initial security.

"By the way, Toon. Do you have a formal name you go by?" Kevin finally got around to asking.

"Oh, it is Wendy Jinxsprinkles. What about you?"

"Wendy. Understand you can learn my name on a later date. The less you know, the better," Kevin replied cryptically. "Now get going, get some rest, and return to my office tomorrow or the next day at 11:00 AM sharp. Got it?"

She nodded vigorously. "Got it! Thanks, uh, sir."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye!"

The Eagle turned smartly around and walked back down the street. Wendy waited for him to disappear from view before turning and running into the tunnel. Now that she was alone the thoughts of Frank and home came into her mind. She hoped they wouldn't be too mad or Frank wouldn't be too worried.


	4. Unafraid

**Carreract:** _Chapter 4 out already? What is this craziness? It's called bugging Madness til she gives in and writes another one of these chapters with me. All joking aside I hope you enjoy!_

**MadnessJones: **_LOL! Yeah, this chapter is short, but at least it's out in a timely fashion. I would like to thank Carreract for keeping me focused during the writing process, and he will be writing the next chapter. Thank you all for reading. If you feel like it please review :)_

* * *

Chapter 4

Unafraid

As Wendy walked through the tunnel to the playground of The Brrrgh, she couldn't help but wonder what she had gotten herself into. She was serious when she said she wanted to work for the Legal Eagle and learn more about the Cogs, but now that her notion was becoming a reality she didn't know what she was going to do. Her parents would never allow her to do this. Her brother Tom would think she'd gone nuts. Would Frank even understand?

That thought made Wendy remember that she still hadn't located Frank, so she looked around the playground to see if she could find him. Surprisingly there were more Toons out than before. Day had turned to night, yet for some reason there were lots of Toons hanging around the fishing hole, running around collecting snowflakes, and ice skating. It was strangely beautiful.

Wendy cautiously looked around for Frank, which wasn't easy since he was a green dog. Surprisingly there were a lot of dogs out on this starlit night, and Wendy wasn't sure which one of them, if any, was Frank.

_Where were all these Toons when Frank and I were in trouble? _Wendy thought as she sighed tiredly; knowing that finding Frank in this sea of dogs would be difficult.

She tried tugging on the shirt of one of the dogs, only to see it wasn't him. That dog gave her a disgruntled look, so she moved on and tried again. The next dog was green, so that just had to be Frank! She pulled on the dog's arm, but...

"Hey, watch it!" Barked the annoyed dog.

"Sorry!" Wendy quickly apologized and moved on.

It took several minutes of fruitless searching before she located Frank. He was at the entrance to Sleet Street trying to communicate with a bear and a rabbit. Their clothes were normal, but Wendy could tell from their serious expressions that they were either ubers or police officers. When she saw the club attached to the bear's hip, she nodded to herself. They were definitely police officers.

Frank meanwhile was pantomiming and trying to explain that his best friend was missing, but neither cop understood what he was trying to say. They just scratched their heads and looked at him with glazed over eyes.

"Frank! Frank! Frank!" Wendy called out repeatedly as she quickly ran to him, "Frank, it's okay! I'm alright. We can go home now."

Frank smiled wide and grabbed Wendy in a big relieved Toony hug. Wendy was being crushed, but she didn't chastise him for his over-excitement. She was happy to see him too, after all. When Frank let go of her, Wendy's middle was smashed in tight with her head and feet being bigger, so she blew into her glove to reinflate her body back to normal.

Once everything was squared away with the police Wendy and Frank went down the tunnel that would lead them home. Frank sent a questioning look her way, wondering where she had been.

"Oh, um, I was just..." Wendy bit her lip, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't worry Frank, "I went inside an open shop to wait out the Cogs."

Frank quirked an eyebrow, as if asking which shop would be open so late.

"Oh, uh, I forgot the name of the shop," Wendy said quickly, just wanting the conversation to be over.

Frank knew Wendy was nervous, but he just assumed it was because of being chased by Cogs, so he let it go.

As they walked down the silent snowy streets Wendy was as quiet as Frank for once. She still had a lot on her mind. She couldn't stop thinking about the Legal Eagle and the job she had promised to do for him. On the one hand she knew she looked pathetic, following his every order and pleading to not be depressed. Her behavior around the Cog seemed silly now that she realized he never would have attacked first. She wished she had known that before.

On the other hand, despite feeling very small around that well dressed giant Cog, she also felt braver than she had in a long time. She saw an opportunity, and she took it. She knew her family was a problem, but for once she hadn't let the thought of their disapproval stop her. She also stood up to a Cog. Sure, he was a litigious Cog with little desire for battle, but still...a Cog! Wendy couldn't even stand up to her big brother and parents, yet her will managed to overpower the will of an unmovable machine! It was a good feeling.

* * *

It was almost morning before Wendy and Frank made it back to Wendy's estate. They tiptoed carefully in an effort to not wake anybody up and get Wendy back to her room unnoticed. When they made it as far as the front door however, a nasty surprise was waiting for them.

Leo's lawn chair had been parked in front of the door, but instead of Leo, Sophie Moggytom was sitting there holding a slingshot and looking at the duo with utter contempt. Her breath smelled of catnip. _A lot_ of catnip.

"So...the little mouse returns," Sophie slurred bitterly, "You think you can run out on us like that whenever you want? Your brother had to finish the cleanup, which meant _I_ had to take care of the baby! You selfish little mouse..."

"Um, pardon me, but you could have cleaned up while Tom took care of the baby," Wendy suggested, but then realized she was only digging herself deeper.

"What!? How _dare_ you talk that way to me!" Sophie screeched, and Wendy cringed in preparation for whatever was coming, "Oh, I see. It's that _dog_, isn't it? Yeah Frank, I know what you are. I know what kind of...Toon you are. You whisper ideas into my little girl's giant goofy ears and make her hate her own mother. Admit it!"

Frank just gave her a quizzical look. After all, he wasn't exactly capable of _whispering_ to anyone.

"Wendy Jinxsprinkles, you ain't allowed outta this house again!" Sophie declared as she pointed an accusing finger at her daughter, "And you ain't allowed to see Frank neither! Frank, get off my property! If I ever see you again I'm gonna use this slingshot and anything else I can find on you!"

Wendy squeaked in fright and scurried back into the house, while Frank balled his fists and growled challengingly at Sophie. Sophie, despite being hopped up on catnip, managed to load the slingshot and aim a little stick of lit dynamite at Frank. Frank, seeing that he wasn't going to win this fight, took off running down the road as dynamite crackled and exploded behind him.

"And don't you come back, you dirty dog!" Sophie screamed even as Frank grew smaller and smaller on the horizon.

Wendy meanwhile was sobbing into her pillow in her room, unable to believe the roller coaster of events that could happen in one day. First she got to go to a new playground, then she got trapped in Lawbot HQ, then she was employed to work for a _Cog_, and now she might've lost her best friend to her evil tyrant of a mother. She didn't know how this situation could get any worse.

Wendy then heard the door open, and saw her father standing in the doorway; his grey fur matted in clumps and his eyes lacking any spark of life. This was not what she needed right now.

"Hey, Wendy," Leo drawled listlessly, "I heard you crying."

"I'm sorry," Wendy sniffed, "I'll try to be quiet."

"I also heard your mother. Kinda hard to miss that," Leo replied in an attempt at humor, but Wendy was only wondering what the old grey cat wanted, "I know your mother can be a rough woman..."

"But?" Wendy prodded.

"No buts, just your mother can be a rough woman," Leo deadpanned.

Wendy laughed, and Leo came in to sit down on her bed. Leo wasn't good at giving comfort, but he wasn't exactly heartless; just uninvolved.

"Listen, I know it's hard," Leo continued, "I used to be young just like you. I wanted to explore the world too. You'll see though. Your mother making you stay in this house is a good thing. The world is dangerous now. You know what I found when I explored? Cogs. The world is full of Cogs, and has been for a long time. You go out there and you'll get saddened. Stay in here, and you don't have to worry about Cogs."

"But Mother made me sad now," Wendy protested, "She took my best friend away. Please, can't you talk to her? You're her husband."

"True, but she don't listen to me," Leo shrugged, "You want some ice cream? I can get you some ice cream."

Wendy nodded, and Leo got up and walked over to the door. Before he left however, he turned to Wendy one last time and said, "And remember now, you do what your mother says. Estates are protected from Cogs. It's better to be here where those giant ugly monsters can't depress you. Goodnight, Wendy."

With that Leo shut the door behind him, leaving Wendy alone with her thoughts once again. Just yesterday her father's warnings about Cogs would've scared Wendy enough to make her want to stay hidden away, but not this time. This time she had met a Cog, and leaving this house to return to him was something she wanted more than anything. She would find a way to keep her promise, one way or another.

* * *

The next morning Wendy woke up early. She hoped that she could sneak away before her family woke up. It was a terrible idea, and she knew she would be punished if her parents found out about this, but she had made a promise to her new boss and was determined to keep it.

As Wendy walked into the living room she saw her mother was barely awake and rocking the baby back and forth in her rocking chair. Wendy was surprised her mother could sleep off the catnip so quickly, but then realized it was more likely that Sophie had not slept that night. Sophie certainly looked cranky enough to have not slept, and Wendy was very nervous now that someone was watching her. She wondered how obvious it was that she was trying to escape.

"You got a lot of work to do, Wendy," Sophie growled, "First you got-"

"Um, excuse me, Mother?" Wendy interrupted softly, but it was still enough to annoy the orange cat, "Um, forgive me, but you mentioned work. I, um, I wanted to talk to you about that. You see...I was offered a job yesterday."

"A _job_?" Sophie asked derisively, "Wendy, you're just a stupid kid! What kind of moron would give you a job?"

"It's, um, a Toon shopkeeper...in The Brrrgh. Yes, a Toon!" Wendy stammered even as she made up the story in her head, "It is only part time work."

"Does it pay?" Sophie asked without skipping a beat.

Wendy gulped. She never actually worked out the details with the Cog. She didn't know if she was getting paid or not. To keep up the ruse however...

"Yes, I am getting paid," Wendy lied, "And he wants me to come in today, if I am allowed."

"You give me the money you make and I'll let ya go," Sophie demanded.

"Of course, M-Mother," Wendy stuttered; practically shaking due to her nervousness.

"Good. Now get going!" Sophie ordered, "If you're out earning jellybeans then I need to wake up your no-good brother to take care of the baby. TOM! Get your sorry _meow_ outta bed!"

Wendy wasted no time seeing the results of this tirade. She took off running out of the house and down the dirt road. It would be a long walk to The Brrrgh, but she was ready for it. She had managed to keep her promise. She was going to make it to work on her first day!

That was when she realized something. She had never actually figured out the pay system, and she still had dug herself into a pretty deep metaphorical hole. Her employer was a Cog, so that meant he would likely pay her in cogbucks; assuming he would be willing to pay her at all. As a Toon she was taught that money was unimportant and should not be discussed during business transactions. Now though, she realized how foolish that was. She needed jellybeans to appease her mother, and she was likely to come home empty-handed...or else with incriminating cogbucks. What would she even do with cogbucks? Buy a Flunky suit?

With a mixture of trepidation and anticipation, Wendy marched on toward her destiny. She was still excited to get to learn more about Cogs and be useful to someone besides her family, but at the same time she knew she was playing a very dangerous game. If she was caught by her family or Frank, she could lose everything. If the Cogs decided they didn't like her and wanted her sad, then she was defenseless. This arrangement had to work out. She had to be smart about this. There was no turning back now.


	5. Chills

**_Carreract: _**_So Madness thought it would be a fantastic idea to let me loose and make a WHOLE chapter by myself. So if you hate this chapter...it's her fault. I'm innocent I tell ya! Hope you enjoy it though_.

* * *

Chapter 5

Chills

Wendy was nearly at a full sprint as she entered Donald's Docks. She did not have a way to tell what time it was but judging by the smiling sun gazing across Toontown, it was probably close to 10:30 already and she still had to cross two playgrounds just to get to Lawbot HQ. Annoyingly as she got closer and closer to the playground center of this area the fog got thicker and thicker, throwing off her ability to tell time since the sun was now completely blocked; making it look like it was in every direction now.

"Blasted docks always needing to make things so hard to see," Wendy muttered in frustration.

This wouldn't be the first time the fog got on her nerves. Last time she and Frank tried to get to the Golf Courses it was such a foggy day that they got lost and had to cancel that day of her limited fun. Despite this she ran on, almost slamming into several trash cans and mailboxes with the pelican on it.

She also noted several buildings had been taken over by Cogs and transformed into a much more organized looking cog building. She wondered what those actually did since no Toon seemed to truly know their purpose. She shook her head to chase away the thought. She was getting distracted. She needed to get to work quickly.

Eventually she made it to the ocean themed playground and wasted no time running into the next tunnel; leading directly to The Brrrgh. Once she crossed the threshold to the winter wonderland, the fog suddenly lifted and she got smacked right in the face with an icy breeze.

"Ahh! S-So c-cold!" She shivered; her teeth chattering from the sudden icy assault.

Had it gotten colder so soon? Of course it was The Brrrgh, but this was ridiculous. Then she realized why she was colder than she should be. She had forgotten to change into warmer clothes. Oh boy, this just got a lot harder for her.

To combat the cold, she pulled her arms back through her sleeves and kept them completely in her shirt. She then resumed her trip, though much slower as she could no longer truly run. More realistically she was only speed walking now. Despite the inconvenience she was strangely happy about the cold. It would keep other Toons out of the streets, which meant there would be no one around to speculate about what such a small low Laff mouse was doing in The Brrrgh.

Wendy soon reached the playground and, noticing she was turning blue in the nose, decided she had to warm up some and headed into the Gag Shop before realizing that there were surely clerks inside. Instead of risking it she opted to head down Polar Place to search for one of the vacant buildings. She looked around to make sure that no one would see her, and seeing as there was no one there she ran through the tunnel.

The howling wind forced the door open as soon as she pulled on the handle, dragging her inside. She was rather grateful that she had thought to go for a vacant building. This was far too embarrassing for anyone to see, but with the door open inwards completely, the cold was combating the warmth of the interior, and winning. Wendy had to act fast and pushed with her entire body on the door in an effort to push out the wind. With great effort, and a lot of grunting and whining from Wendy, she finally heard the pleasing click of the door fully closing into the door frame, and she slid down onto her bottom and sighed; welcoming warmth to help her defrost some.

Soon enough, she looked around trying to find a clock or something to tell the time, but it seemed like no Toons cared about the time. They came to their shops when it was sunny and went to bed when it was dark..if they decided they wanted to work that day anyways. Toons were always so unreliable for even opening their shops. Wendy recalled many times when a shop she needed was closed on the sunniest day of summer. Granted the shopkeeper wanted to play in the sun too probably, but still, she really wanted a new dress and he was gone.

Wendy laughed at that memory. It happened to be a very very hot day, but her white fur and large ears helped her stay cool rather easily. While everyone else needed a fan, a large shade-providing hat, or a bucket of water to stay cool, Wendy was able to frolic and play without concern. Even poor Frank was sticking his tongue out trying to cool down. Now _that_ was a funny sight for her, mostly because seeing his mouth open was very rare so that when he first did it around her, she couldn't help but laugh. It took every fiber of her being to convince him that she was laughing at something else. She was still sure that he knew that it was seeing his tongue out since she wasn't too good at lying.

That's when it occurred to her. Did he believe her about where she was? She had lied to her no-good mother, but Frank...

Frank was too smart, and too pure to be fooled so easy. It did pain her that she lied to him. Part of her felt like he would figure it out soon, but this was too risky even for him to know. What if he didn't want to be friends anymore because of it? She couldn't bear losing Frank...especially over a silly job that was completely against what she was taught.

Wait! Her job! She was going to be late, and she needed to go now! Wendy jumped to her feet and swung open the door. The awaiting cold barged in at the chance and shoved her right back onto her behind. She squeaked in surprise and covered her mouth. She was startled too easily. She needed to work on that eventually.

"I will get back at you cold!" She shouted at the temperature, as if it would react to her shouting.

She didn't bother closing the door. It was odd for her to think this way, but she didn't much care if a Cog invaded this building. It wasn't occupied anyway. Maybe her helping with this takeover would look good on her...what was it called? Restmee? Razzimay? Oh, right. Her resumé.

She pulled out the map showing how to get to the HQ and followed it as fast as she could without losing track. She dodged around Cogs, trying hard to avoid their eyesight. Even if the metal eagle was okay with her, she was doubtful any other Cog was, but she had a schedule to keep. She needed to prove her reliability and now that she had a story to give her mother, she assumed she was home free to come whenever the Cog asked for her presence.

* * *

Eventually she found the tunnel leading into the Lawbot HQ. Coming through the other side, she walked through the corridor and into the courtyard only to stop and let her jaw drop. Last time she was too busy to pay attention to this area since a Cog was chasing her, but now that she was 'somewhat' allowed to be there, she could only now take in just how massive, and beautifully constructed, this HQ was. The floors were all extremely polished and clean marble, making it basically a mirror for the sky. No Cogs walking around left foot prints. They must have been extremely tidy to have nothing on their shoes. This rather pleased Wendy. While the Brrrgh and all its snow was beautiful, walking through it left foot prints and ruined its perfection across the land, but this marble flooring was like snow, but unspoiled by being stepped on.

She became self-conscious due to these observations, quickly remembering she was barefoot. She was surely going to leave prints across the ground, but there was nothing she could do.

A giant white marble statue of someone, she assumed it was a Cog, wearing a robe and blindfold stood quite far away from where she was standing, but it was so big that it looked much closer. The two main buildings were supported by perfect white columns in a perfectly organized manner. Everything was just so...precise.

Reading her map, she needed to go to the building on the right, so she ran over to it and jumped up two steps at a time until she got to the top...only to see another small flight of stairs. She panted, out of breath, but after a minute to recover she sprinted up those last steps and looked at the huge door before her. She pulled on it, and to her amazement, the massive door opened with very little effort.

"Wow...what kind of door that big can be easier to open than even Mother's door?" Wendy pondered as she proceeded inside towards the four elevators on the other side of the room.

She then fumbled for her key pass, unsure when she was meant to use it but hopefully any Cogs that found her would let her continue towards her new boss.

Sure enough, several Cogs did approach her at once. She gulped and one who had a pointy head and a purple color came right up to her. She had seen this type of Cog last time she was in Lawbot HQ, but she didn't know anything about them.

"You! You're not meant to be here," The purple Cog shouted, "It's time to depress you!"

Somewhat panicking, she quickly fished in her pockets as fast as she could; trying desperately to find her pass. The Cog, used to normal Toon battles, waited for her to throw her gag. He was expecting her to use Throw and he had every intention to dodge it.

However, to his surprise she pulled out a plastic card and held it up for his inspection.

"I, uh...I am supposed to be here actually. This was supposed to get me past you...I think," she squeaked out; a bit startled by how much more aggressive this Cog was.

"Give me that, Toon," The Cog demanded and swiped the card right out of her hands, studying it closely.

Wendy held her breath and waited for his decision.

"This...is legitimate. Where did you get this, Toon?" The Cog demanded to know.

The Lawbot was doubtful that a Cog had _actually_ given an access card to a Toon. Surely a Lawbot wouldn't risk his station and functionality by trusting a Toon. A Sellbot might be that reckless, but a Lawbot? This was legal procedure, not business.

"Uh...an eagle Cog gave it to me so I can work for him," Wendy replied, hoping that would be enough to convince him to let her go, "He wanted me here at 11 AM...sharp...whatever that means."

Weirdly the Cog looked at his wrist for a moment. There was a leather bracelet with a clock attached to it. Wendy had never seen one of those before, and didn't know what it was. It was quite pretty regardless.

"Ah yes, and it is almost 11 now, Toon."

She let out her breath in relief. She wasn't late after all. However he spoke up again, this time a little more seriously.

"Now, who was the Cog that hired you? I am not going to let you just wander into a Cog DA Office unattended so it's best you tell me now."

Wendy's eyes widened. The Cog had never told her his name. How could she handle this? She wanted to lie again, but a thought occurred to her that maybe she should be honest.

"Well...I will be honest sir, he never told me who he was. I don't really remember the direction his office was either. I t-think it was the second elevator..." Wendy began to explain as confidently as she could but stuttering anyways.

The Cog, however, smiled at her in a strangely creepy fashion.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Follow me," He said with a smirk.

The Cog turned on one foot and marched over to the elevator. As formal as this looked, he was also rather slow so Wendy practically had to shuffle to keep from walking in front of him.

The two entered the elevator and the doors closed with a soft thud. The box they were in then lifted them up into the building's interior, making Wendy gulp. There was no going back now. Sweat was beginning to condense on her forehead which she wiped off instinctively. The Cog took no notice of her nervousness...or didn't care to bring it up.

Luckily, there was a ding right as their elevator stopped on a floor and opened its doors up to the hallway.

"This way," The Cog stated flatly and walked out down the hallway.

She followed timidly until finally they arrived at an office door, which the Cog then abruptly opened. Wendy recollected her confidence as the door opened; revealing a familiar eagle looking up from his papers. He looked slightly annoyed by the interruption. Wendy gulped and tugged at her collar, afraid the Cog might take back their agreement and get her in trouble. For the briefest of moments, Wendy wondered if she was making a mistake.

* * *

Kevin was again working on his papers by himself, but he was efficient enough to keep up with his task's demands. His morning was about as rough as he could ever recall since he had no coffee remaining at his apartment, meaning he actually had to spend his hard earned cogbucks to _buy_ some at a coffee shop on his way to the DA Office for probably 4 times as much as it would cost if he just bought coffee grounds and made it himself.

Then as soon as he sat down to work, that blasted Micromanager had called him directly to demand that he hurry up the case and let her in on it more so the work could go faster. With as much restraint as he could possibly get from his processor, he had to explain to her for a solid 30 minutes before she finally relented and let him resume his work. He definitely played a Power Trip on her, referencing that the more time this took on his end, the more she would have to pay more for his services. Normally he left that in the fine print of his contracts but he was so over her, he had directly brought it up to her to get her to drop it.

After _those_ wonderful events, he got to find out that he had run out of ink for his pen too. So once more, he had to stop working and go to the supply section of the DA Office to get a new box of pens and walk all the way back to his office...5 floors above the supply office. Even with an elevator it took forever, as there was only 2 on any floor and with a hundred floors on each section of the DA Office that meant every elevator was either in use on a different floor or too crowded for him to get his bulky metal hide squeezed in properly.

But at last Kevin had the chance to finally get some work done. He sat down at his desk and begin to write for a few seconds. He then stopped and looked at his door, expecting somebody to interrupt him by now. However, the door remained closed, so he looked down at the phone. It was clear as well. This was his chance! So, he set to work on his documents as fast as he could. Very soon he slipped into his rhythm, writing out his case in time for the smaller courts that handled such lawsuits to deal with them.

Of course, as soon as he was fully concentrated, a Backstabber barged right into his office without even knocking. Kevin closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed his upper beak in frustration before looking that Cog right in the eyes.

"_What_ in Cogtown do you want?" Kevin almost shouted right at the inferior Cog.

"Easy LE, this Toon here claimed you gave her a pass to get back in. Is this true?" The Backstabber inquired, not at all intimidated by an evil eye.

Kevin eased up. A Toon? Oh...right. He did hire a Toon, and told her to be in his office 11:00 AM. He glanced up at the clock, noting that it said 11:04. She was late by an entire 4 minutes. Well, he did need to give some slack, he supposed. She was a Toon, and Toons were not known for being reliable in the slightest, so perhaps a 4 minute delay was rather impressive for one of her species'...carelessness.

"Oh...yes. I did do that," Kevin replied, trying his best not to sound awkward, "Let her stay, you may leave."

The Backstabber nodded obediently and turned on his heel, leaving the two alone as he closed the door behind him.

"Well then, Miss Jinxsprinkles," The Legal Eagle said the second the Backstabber had left them. Wendy looked up at him and bit her lower lip anxiously, "Let's get started shall we?"


	6. Curveball

**Carreract:** _Sorry that it took forever, MadnessJones and I took an unofficial FTL break for a bit but now it's back. Also, I may or may not start writing on my own page soon so be sure to keep an eye on my profile XD_

* * *

Chapter 6

Curveball

"Um...it's Wendy Jinxsprinkles..." Wendy corrected, hoping the Legal Eagle wouldn't get upset at her catching his mistake.

The Legal Eagle, however, didn't seem like he had any patience left so she wisely dropped it and changed the subject.

"So...what are we doing today? I'm here on time at least."

His silence was getting a bit worrying for her. Last time he was rather talkative. At least she thought he was rather talkative, but now it was just silence with his eyes staring down at her. She wondered if that was an attack they used to depress Toons, but she really couldn't tell and simply waited nervously. Luckily, instead of attacking he finally spoke up.

"You were not on time. It's 4 minutes past 11:00 AM. That's late," he spoke without any sympathy.

"Uh...I'm sorry. I thought I was here sooner than that. It's so hard to tell time where I live," she was beginning to play with her little tan dress she chose for today. This was getting rather awkward and she didn't like that one bit.

Sadly, for her, he was maintaining the tension very well as he slowly walked back to his desk, facing away from her before finally speaking again.

"We have much work to do so let's get going, shall we?" He inquired, but really there was only one answer he was expecting.

She nodded vigorously and spoke quickly trying to calm his frustration. "Yes, of course what do you need?"

In reality, she was curious about what happened earlier, but she knew better than to risk upsetting him. Hopefully playing up to him would calm him to some degree.

To her surprise, he actually did give her a task without trying to cause harm to her. Instead of attacking, the metallic bird simply rubbed his eyes and spoke with a low voice.

"Just file these new papers for me. The third shelf from the top, 2 over from the left. Got it?" The Legal Eagle asked abruptly.

"Oh...yes sir," Wendy quietly muttered; quite nervous by his seeming lack of personality beyond robotic efficiency.

Careful to not make any noise, she dragged the chair towards the desk, but he stopped her by grabbing the chair by the back and yanking it back into its original position.

"I'll give you the papers," He explained.

A large stack of files and documents was then dropped into the little mouse's awaiting arms. Poor Wendy was far too small to catch a large stack of papers falling on her and ended up getting smothered in the files, disorganizing everything into a massive pile.

"For the love of Chairman, can't you do _one_ thing right, Miss Wendy?" He spat at her, watching her head pop up from the middle of the pile.

Now at first Wendy sank inward, wanting to disappear in embarrassment as she just sat there paralyzed in self-pity and defeat. However, as she dipped her head down, she felt something in her. A little spark of energy. She lifted her head back up at him, his eyes staring back at her, unaverting.

She pulled herself out of the papers and stood as straight as she could and muttered "Right away sir," before she began to organize them back up into a stack.

Kevin meanwhile resumed his own paperwork; still keeping a careful eye on her just in case, but so far, she was doing as she was told.

After nearly an hour, she had finally finished organizing back into a stack. As boring as this task was, she pressed on even with a dull sickening feeling starting to spread in her body. She was blissfully unaware what was happening to her as she made another set of makeshift stairs with file cabinet drawers and climbed up them.

After a while, at least 3 hours she thought, Wendy had completed her mundane task and sat down on top of the filing cabinet.

"Sir, I'm finished," Wendy said timidly; unsure of his mood.

However, she was lucky. Nothing else had interrupted him all day, allowing a lot of work to be made up. So, hearing that her task was completed was just another check mark to his effort at recovering lost time. He turned around and looked up at her.

"Perfect. Let me check them first though," Kevin ordered.

He then got out of his chair and began fishing through the files, making sure everything was probably named.

Several minutes of checking had passed and Wendy couldn't help but yawn quietly, still waiting for his approval. Her head throbbed slightly, but she didn't let on lest she disappoint her new boss. He was taking a long time today, but then again, there were a lot more papers than last time. At last however, he nodded approvingly at the filing cabinet.

"Very good. I'd say you did a standard job with the papers, so please do it again more efficiently," The Legal Eagle stated as he placed another large stack of papers beside the poor mouse.

Wendy wanted to complain, to groan, to resist and even play, but she quickly remembered that he had already told her that this line of work was not fun at all. He had warned her about the lack of entertainment in working, but she had still insisted she do it. This was on her, and she realized if she started to whine to him about this, he would surely remove her from the office...or depress her maybe. He was certainly capable of that still.

"Oh...of course, sir. I'll be as good as I can for you," She said as positively as she could muster.

"Mhmm, right, get going please," The Legal Eagle replied in a disinterested monotone. He was really not making this easy, was he?

She grabbed the next set of papers at the end but then that dull feeling had suddenly manifested into a much more noticeable pain. It had given her an instant headache and that was not enjoyable at all. She let out a quiet groan, but quickly shut her lips before the Cog noticed. She needed to tough it out. She could sleep it off later, but for now she needed to keep moving forward.

So, she pressed on as the hours ticked by. One by one, each paper got sorted into its respected spot. Unfortunately for her, as the time kept on moving, so did the pain. Her head was throbbing at this point. Her arms ached, her back hurt, and her feet hurt. She felt a strong need to lean over and let her head droop towards the floor.

What was worse was that she was getting slower. She was only halfway done at this point and it was roughly the same amount of time it took for the first stack. She may have had a lot of willpower, but she simply had to throw in the towel at this point. She collapsed onto her bottom and leaned against the wall, breathing loudly, exhausted by the work.

Kevin noticed the change in noises, and the fact it was well past the time he was expecting her to take with the file sorting, so he turned around to face her yet again. To his surprise, she was sitting down with a very disturbing look on her face.

"Good Chairman! What did you do, Miss Wendy?" Kevin asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

Wendy just looked at him and shook her head, clearly losing her willpower. This was bad news for Kevin. Not only was his efficiency gone, but now his unofficial employee looked like she was about to pass out. He recognized what this was. Despite his lack of a combat record, he did still know the basics of Toons and Cogs. If a Toon was hit with too many business attacks, they would go sad. She must have gone sad thanks to hours of this kind of work.

Kevin had to think fast. A depressed Toon was a useless Toon in his mind, and he needed to regain his advantage again. What did Toons do to perk up?

He did not have the slightest clue to what Toons needed. Well, they needed gags, but did that make them happy or was it just used to destroy fellow Cogs? Either way, he didn't have gags. Then a thought occurred to him to try and solve this problem.

He grabbed the phone from his desk and dialed a number. He really wished they would put some research into something more advanced than rotary phones and email accounts. Those thoughts would have to wait as the receiver answered.

"Hello, you've reached an official medical officer of Building 11D's medical department, what repairs do you or a colleague require?" The voice greeted unenthusiastically.

"Yes, hello sir, I need to ask that you come to my office at once. It's an unusual repair request," Kevin insisted.

"Oh. Of course, not like I have anything _else_ to do like handle anyone else's calls in case they need me," The voice complained at Kevin, but the Legal Eagle wasn't having it.

"Yes, well I _do_ need you now. Tell me, how knowledgeable are you about Toons?" Kevin snapped; rather annoyed by the laziness.

"Toons? Very knowledgeable of course. What gag were you or someone else hit-" The Cog began to ask, but Kevin cut in.

"Yes, yes, great. How do they heal?" Kevin asked quickly; rechecking on Wendy, who was still sitting there leaning to her left about to fall on her side on top of the cabinets.

"How do they..._heal_? Why do you need to know something like that?" The Cog asked; suddenly more engaged in the conversation due to the very unusual question.

"Just answer it, or I'll see you in court for failure to do your job leading into the...uh..." Kevin stuttered, looking over at Wendy's limping body, unsure of how to describe her situation, "Permanent...loss of function of the victim."

The medical officer seemed unconvinced by his threat, but he yielded to Kevin.

"Right...okay. Well, let me see here then," The Cog on the other end of the line said awkwardly.

Soon pages could be heard turning on the other end of the line, and Kevin hoped that finally they would get somewhere with this. Many things about Cog life were efficient, but hold times on the phone wasn't one of them.

"Alright sir, I found it," The other Cog finally told him, "So, Toons heal through things that cause joy and/or laughter. Too much of the same thing can dull a Toon's 'happiness', leading to sadness. What does this information matter to you anyw-"

'Perfect. Thanks. Oh, but next time, drop the laziness and the attitude. If I didn't have such a serious matter on my hands, I would have reported you to the HR," Kevin threatened again, but the Cog just shrugged it off after confirming that his job was done and hung up.

Once he put down the phone, Kevin moved back over to Wendy, who still had not moved, to analyze her. There had to be a way to get her back to normal. The lazy Cog had said Toons can go sad if they did too much of the same thing that wasn't entertaining, so perhaps she needed a new task. Or did she need something to laugh at or be entertained by first to get back up and then get a new task?

He thought hard, trying to figure out how to pull her back up from sadness. It felt incredibly weird for him to try to _heal_ a Toon rather than sadden one, but this one was his worker now and he wasn't going down for a worker dispute claim. The amount of paperwork on that alone was ridiculous.

Wait, that was it! The idea had shot into Kevin's mind and he decided it was worth a try.

Carefully, Kevin picked up the tiny mouse and placed her on his precious table; rolling her head to face him. Then he found a blank piece of paper and placed it between them. He then grabbed 2 pens, placing one in her gloved hand.

"Okay. You win this one because of what happened, so pay attention," The Legal Eagle instructed as he placed his pen at the top of the paper, "This is your first crash course in cursive writing, okay?"

Wendy didn't move or respond, but Kevin continued anyway.

"The big thing with cursive is that every word's letters are connected. They never separate, but the words do. Like this," he instructed.

He then wrote out the words 'Hello there' in a beautiful and perfect style.

The Toon flinched and her hand reflexively closed around the pen. Was this actually working? Kevin certainly hoped so. With this encouraging sign from his employee he pressed on with his task.

"Alright, so now I'll show you how to write each letter with and without capitalization. Just copy me as best as you can, alright Miss Jinxsprinkles?" He asked while eyeing her to see if this was helping.

Sure enough, she dragged her hand over to the paper; looking down at it preparing to copy him. Encouraged that he could avoid the courts and the lawsuit, he set out to show her the basics of cursive, all the while she gained more color and motion back into her body; her smile growing.

* * *

At last, after several hours, the little mouse was all back to normal as far as the Cog could tell. At first, he was satisfied, but then the clock dinged and reminded him that he was going to have to head home in an hour due to Union regulations and he had already lost several hours helping Wendy recover.

At least she seemed to be a quick learner, as she was able to write each pair of letters without a prompt by the end and she was healed as well. A double win in his mind.

"Thank you for teaching me, sir. Maybe someday I can write as well as you," Wendy said eagerly as Kevin got up and helped her back onto the floor.

"Yes, maybe. For now, take a few days just to ensure you are fully healed. I will research some more about your Toony ways, so we do not repeat this little episode. I don't have the time to do this more than once," He explained without emotion as he headed for the door.

Wendy was about to follow, but then a major problem she meant to bring up shoved it's way into her thoughts.

"Wait! Wait! There is something important I need to talk to you about. It's a big deal, please can we have another minute?"

"Oh? Important you say? Go ahead then," He replied as he crossed his arms.

"I...sort of need a way to be paid. In jellybeans. Do you think you can do that?" She shyly inquired, not sure how he would react.

"I have to pay you...in jellybeans? Are you serious, Miss Jinxsprinkles?" He slowly asked, almost stunned by what she just requested.

"You see, my mother wouldn't let me come here unless I had a real reason, so I _may_ have told her that it was a paid assistant job in one of the shop owner's stores," she continued explaining, really hoping he would understand.

She was in luck this go around, as Kevin knew she needed to be paid for her time. Cogbucks were actually valuable, so to pay her in that way was not ideal. Kevin would rather keep his money, thank you very much. However, how was he supposed to get jellybeans for her? Luckily an idea came to him.

"Well...I have to pay you somehow, and if you can't accept cogbucks I suppose I can cash in a favor or two, if you'll excuse the pun," Kevin hesitantly told her.

Kevin then rifled through his top drawer and pulled out a rectangular piece of paper. Wendy recognized it from her father's battle stories. It was a business card. Oh, great Goofy! Was he going to sadden her after all? Did she upset him by slacking off? Was her request too much? Wendy flinched, knowing she was powerless against the final blow.

"Here, it's a business card. Head over to the Cashbot HQ to meet this Cog. I'll ask him to meet you outside so you two can talk. Now get go-"

Before he could even finish, Wendy hugged his leg tightly in glee.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're so sweet!" Wendy exclaimed, overjoyed that he was willing to help her rather than attack her.

"Yes, yes, get going. You've got quite the walk ahead of you," Kevin flustered, a bit unsure of how to handle this expression she's posed to him.

"Okay, okay, okay. Just...thank you. This is my dream!" Wendy shouted joyfully before rushing out the door; leaving Kevin staring blankly at where she had been standing.

"Hmm. What an odd Toon, putting in so much effort just to work for a lawyer," Kevin snorted.

However, as he walked back to his desk, he wasn't too upset about the loss of time. Perhaps she was more useful than he thought. After that thought came through, he smiled ever so slightly as he sat down to make up what time he could before the clock struck 8:00 PM.

* * *

Once Wendy had gotten back into the courtyard she set off for the tunnel to the awaiting cold, snow, and wind powerful enough to blow her away. She was already incredibly tired, especially after she almost went completely sad, but she needed to return with some jellybeans back home or Mother would never let her go out again. So, she braved the cold, which was even worse now that the sun was almost completely gone.

The wind whipped her all around as she navigated back to the playground. She was actually beginning to feel frostbite thanks to the temperatures in her legs, arms, and feet which were throbbing in icy pain. Her hands were only slightly better as the gloves didn't do a terrific job keeping them warm.

She then passed the building she had fled for warmth that morning, but it seemed the street had no activity all day as the doors were still wide open with the interior filled with plenty of snow several inches thick now. It disappointed her slightly that no Cogs had taken the opportunity to take it over, but she assumed the weather was rather bad today, so both sides had avoided The Brrrgh today.

Sure enough, when she finally did get into the playground, it was entirely abandoned. This made her relax some as she really didn't want anyone to see her here by herself at this hour halfway to becoming a chunk of ice. That reminded her of Frank. Was he okay after last night? She did miss him some, but she also hoped that he hadn't come back to her home to see if she was there.

She shook her head as she headed down the street that connected into Melodyland. It was the shortest route to Dreamland which the Cashbot HQ was connected directly to. She had no time to further ponder Frank's situation. She needed to get home at a reasonable hour so she wouldn't be yelled at.

After yet another street of battling the cold, she arrived at the dividing tunnel and quickly ran through it. On the other side, she couldn't help but give a long sigh of relief as the weather was far better. The warmth was quickly working its magic, beginning to defrost her. Every minute she gained back more strength.

Despite how tired she was, she felt far better here than before, so her tiredness mostly faded out of her mind as she began sprinting. It had taken probably an hour to get here since the sun was totally gone now. She still had to get to the HQ and then head back all the way to Toontown Central just to go to bed.

Any plans for a quick trip were soon ripped away by some extremely irritating noise. She covered her ears as best as she could while looking for the source, until she found a fire hydrant banging its 'hands' together making an infernal racket. She went over to the offending hydrant and then smacked it on the back of its 'head'. It stopped and turned around to face her as she crossed her arms.

"Hey, some of us are sensitive to sound. Maybe don't be so rude next time," Wendy scolded.

Rather than listen to Wendy however, the fire hydrant merely shook its 'head' and continued as if it had never been interrupted. Irritated, Wendy ran off down the street to escape the noise, only to find that there were so many of those noise makers in the forms of mailboxes, hydrants, and record player shaped trash cans dancing, clanging, and smashing metal to metal in various ways, or playing very disorganized bits of music. Melodyland was apparently an ironic name, since there was no melody or organization of any kind to be found.

"Freezing or going deaf...which do I want more?" Wendy grumbled under her breath as she made a mad dash for the tunnel.

Once she was in sight of her destination, she ran through the tunnel as fast as she could into that musically themed playground and fell to her knees as soon as she stopped. She was completely spent on energy as she gasped for air.

Sadly, for her, this playground was not quite so empty, and several Toons came to aid her.

"Hey! What are you doing here all by yourself, little one? You need to go back to Toontown Central honey, it's too dangerous out here," A short female monkey spoke to her.

"Ya, what made you wander all the way up here? Some Cogs can depress you in a simple hit here," A tall male dog chimed in.

"Let's help her get back home. Poor thing looks like she can barely walk," Added a female cat who was just as tall as the dog.

This was too embarrassing for her. She needed to get away from these interlopers and fast. She got onto her feet and looked up at the three, trying her best to keep her composure.

"No, thank you. I am fine. I'm just meeting my brother in Dreamland. That's all," Wendy lied as convincingly as she could.

"Now, now, why would he make you go all the way to Dreamland by yourself to meet him, honey? It's so dangerous to go alone at your age and skill," The monkey cooed, looking concerned for her.

"I can make it. Thank you though," Wendy said firmly and began to walk towards the tunnel towards Dreamland, but the dog held his hand in front of her.

"Well, you seem sure of yourself. But seriously, sweetie, you look exhausted. Perhaps we can help you get there instead?" The cat kindly prodded.

Wendy sighed and decided a rest would be great.

"Could you carry me?" She whimpered; putting on her sweet voice.

"Why of course, darling. Are we ready, gang?" The cat asked while looking at the other two Toons; who both nod eagerly.

So, without further adieu, the cat picked up Wendy and cradled the tiny worn out mouse in her arms.

Wendy let her body relax and her arms dangle freely as the four walked to Dreamland. Wendy seriously hoped they wouldn't get into any battles, or else she would be in serious trouble. However, the three seemed to be truthful in wanting to help her so she closed her eyes for just a moment to try to snag any sort of energy she could recover. It was just a minute or two, after all.

* * *

"Okay honey, wake up now. We are here," The monkey gently nudged the mouse with her arm.

Well, it felt like only a minute or two to Wendy. She slowly came to her senses and stretched out her stiff joints; yawning for a solid 5 seconds before being helped onto her feet.

"Thank you guys, I really appreciate it," Wendy said as she looked around Dreamland. Unfortunately, it was completely empty and the other three seemed to have noticed.

"So, where is your brother?" The dog asked curiously; growing a bit concerned.

"Oh, you know...must be late. Us Toons never know what time it is right?" Wendy nervously laughed.

She had to figure out a new story to keep these Toons from becoming suspicious of her. If anyone found out she worked for a Cog, she'd probably end up in jail or worse...school. After what felt like forever but was only a moment, Wendy came up with something.

"Maybe he's by the Pet Shop. He's been wanting a new pet for a while, so perhaps he's inside. Let's check!" She exclaimed, acting excited to see him.

The three Toons nodded and all walked across the playground over to the Pet Shop. Luckily, all three went through the door before her and as soon as they were inside, she made a run for it into the tunnel next to the shop that went into the Cashbot HQ. She ran as fast as she could to put as much distance as possible between herself and those older Toons.

She soon spotted a shortcut and dashed through it, but two deer were walking down the alleyway with their backs turned to her; one brown and one blue. She didn't want to be rude, but she really needed to run past them to get home before the sun came up at the estates. So, she scrambled between the blue one's legs; nearly making the deer lose balance.

"Hey, watch it! Trying to converse here!" The deer shouted at her.

Wendy didn't even bother to stop. After all, she would likely never see that deer again, but she did feel guilty about doing that to her and not even apologizing. Oh well, the last tunnel was up ahead.

It was a simple plan. Just find the Cog, get her beans, then go home and sleep for a year. Well maybe not that long, she still needed to work with that Legal Eagle and do any leftover household chores when she got home.

She raced through the tunnel, and immediately was bombarded with more noises. However, this was grinding gears, engines rumbling, and loud horns. She moved toward another flight of stairs and into an utterly _massive_ room with a glass ceiling.

Huge trains taller than even the tallest Cog buildings flew by at speeds faster than any of the three race cars one could buy in Raceway Ridge. There were 4 rails of them, and every now and then they would stop randomly for what had to be no more than 5 or 6 seconds before taking off again. Very high level Cogs patrolled and roamed around the massive facility, and there were 2 huge doors at the end of the lobby. Several towers rose high above everything but could only be seen through the glass room.

So, this was it. This was the Cashbot HQ.


	7. Money Is Freedom

**_MadnessJones: _**_Here's the new chapter of Train To Freedom! Things are starting to move forward for Wendy Jinxsprinkles, and we're glad you guys have stuck around to read all about it. Thanks for tuning in, and please review :)_

* * *

Chapter 7

Money Is Freedom

Wendy felt absolutely overwhelmed by Cashbot HQ, and she wasn't even completely inside yet. Everything was so huge! The stairs were huge, the trains were huge, the skylight was huge, and the doors on the other side of the station (which might as well have been the other side of town) were huge. Wendy knew Cogs were taller than Toons, but even they couldn't possibly need this much space! This place could probably fit thousands of Cogs!

Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, Wendy walked down the steps to the path leading to the railroad tracks. There didn't seem to be that many Cogs, and fortunately none noticed her, but her little heart was racing as she hid behind a pallet of large wooden boxes. The boxes were all stamped with the words 'Cog Nation'. An entire nation of Cogs sounded scary, yet on some level intriguing. Wendy wondered if such a place would be anything like Toontown. Probably not. Cogs didn't necessarily like Toontown, since they were constantly trying to change it.

As Wendy scurried from one pallet to another to hide, she noticed this stack wasn't more boxes, but rather bundles of thin green paper. Wendy had seen this paper before, but she couldn't quite put her finger on where. She plucked one from a stack and examined it. There was a picture of a very important looking Cog on the front, and the top of the money had the words 'In Greed We Trust' stamped in prominent letters. Weird.

Wendy didn't exactly know where to go. She knew she was supposed to go to Cashbot HQ, and she was supposed to meet someone here, but the details were practically nonexistent. She looked down at the business card again; hoping to get some answers.

_Adam Calculus_

_Bean Counter_

"_For all you money exchanging needs"_

_Cashbot HQ_

Well, that didn't answer anything. All Wendy knew was a name and Cog type, but she didn't even know what a Bean Counter looked like since she had so little experience with Cogs. At least she had a name: Adam Calculus. She would have to hope that was enough.

Tucking the business card back in her pocket, Wendy set off cautiously to find the mysterious Bean Counter. As she approached the train tracks however, a light suddenly burst forth from the tunnel and a racing mechanical behemoth careened right toward her! Wendy screamed and ran for the safety of the walkway! She could feel the train hit her tail as her feet hit the solid concrete path. That was too close for comfort!

Wendy breathed in and out quickly as she tried to compose herself, only to hear mechanical footsteps coming right toward her. She dashed behind a pallet and peeked around. This Cog was female...maybe. It was hard to tell. The Cog was chewing on a bunch of numbers and talking with its mouth full into a square device. Wendy actually knew what that thing was, and was proud of herself for retaining such information. It was called a '_cell phone_'. Toons kept their phones plugged to the wall, and the only person the phone generally called was Clarabelle Cow; the Cattlelog merchant. Wendy was amazed by the ability to carry a device around that could call anyone. Cogs truly made some remarkable things.

Once the Cog passed by Wendy dared to leave her hiding place. She looked at the tracks, and saw many trains popping up, stopping for brief periods of time, and then moving on as quickly as they came. Some trains dropped off Cogs, and some left more of those boxes from Cog Nation behind.

"How am I supposed to cross all of these tracks?" Wendy whispered to herself.

She stood there for several minutes observing the trains. She noticed that they came and left quickly and had no discernible pattern. What she also noticed was that they generally came one at a time across the tracks. If she could just wait for a train to pass then she could scurry across quickly and make it to the other side.

It didn't take long for the first train to arrive. Wendy took a deep breath, blew it out, and then as soon as the train left she dashed across the tracks! She was small, and her feet kept tripping on the wood of the tracks, so it felt like it took forever to get across. She could actually hear a train coming, so she forced one last burst of energy to get to the other side before it ran her over. The train sped by just as she cleared the tracks, and she breathed in and out several times to calm her nerves.

Now Wendy was caught between the front entrance and the Cashbot lobby. She knew she would have to cross the rest of the tracks, and she was already so tired. She began to wonder if this was worth it, but then thought about what would happen if her mother didn't get jellybeans and decided it was. She would sooner face an army of Cogs rather than face an angry Sophia Moggytom.

One after the other Wendy made it across the tracks. She had splinters in her feet and shortness of breath. She wanted to cry, but wasn't ready to give up. Finally, after making her way across every train track, she arrived at the lobby. Only problem was she still had a massive staircase to climb.

Wendy moaned in anguish at seeing the stairs. She was too tired to go any further, but if she stopped to rest she might be saddened by an enemy Cog. Why did she agree to this?

"Psst! Hey, Toon," A Cog whispered to her from behind a pillar at the top of the stairs, "You Kevin Buzzard's new hire?"

"Uh...maybe," Wendy replied uncertainly, "I work for a Legal Eagle. My name is Wendy Jinxsprinkles. Are you Adam Calculus?"

"That's me," The Cog replied, "You comin' up or should I meet you down there?"

"Please come down here," Wendy asked; her haggard voice barely above a whisper, "My legs are tired."

"Pfft! Toons," Adam tsked, "We Cogs don't get tired. That's why we get the job done and you Toons all just run around like goofballs. By the way, you _did_ come alone, right?"

"Yes, sir," Wendy replied nervously.

As the Cog slowly made his way down the stairs Wendy wondered if she made a mistake. The Cog knew she was alone and unarmed. What if he chose to sadden her and steal everything on her person? Admittedly she didn't really have anything, but she wouldn't put it past a shady guy like this to try.

When Adam came down Wendy could finally see him fully in the light. He was a sickly grey-green color with a smart looking suit and tiny hat. The hat almost made him look Toony, which made Wendy feel a little better.

"So, you need a currency exchange, huh?" Adam asked rhetorically, "Well, you've come to the right Cog. I've been dealin' with the exchange of cogbucks into other currencies since the day I was built!"

"Um, is that what this is?" Wendy asked in confusion, "I've never, um, had a job before. I need jellybeans to bring home to my mother."

"Ep, ep, save the sob story," Adam shushed her, "Let's just get down to business, shall we? Now, Kevin has agreed to transfer your cogbucks over to me for the foreseeable future in exchange for my services providing the equivalent in jellybeans over to you, minus my two cogbucks fee for the transaction. Now if we calculate current market prices, inflation, wartime price gouging, and the standard not understanding the contract fee, all of this brings us to an equitable number of..."

While Adam spoke Wendy could feel her Laff energy draining. Everything he said was confusing and long-winded. He took out a calculator and started talking about money some more, and poor Wendy could practically feel the numbers jump out of the calculator and hit her like a wave of numerical discontent. When Adam stopped talking he saw that Wendy was swaying back and forth where she stood and her eyes were glazed over.

"Hey kid, you still with me?" Adam asked her.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yes. I'm fine," Wendy lied unconvincingly.

"Alright, alright, I know Toons have a low tolerance for homework, so I'll briefly summarize," Adam replied, "Your total jellybeans after working an eight hour work day for Kevin Buzzard as a secretary is difficult to calculate due to the fluctuations in jellybean value depending on where and how they are spent."

Wendy groaned softly, and Adam put away his calculator.

"But, uh, never mind that," Adam replied almost apologetically, "Your total jellybeans is 14,327, minus my 327 jellybean broker's fee. Since I know Toons are bad at math, that means you get 14,000 jellybeans to take home today."

"_What_!?" Wendy practically choked when she heard this, "14,000 jellybeans for a single _day_? Do you know how many Toontasks that is!?"

"You get paid 10 cogbucks an hour, right?" Adam shrugged, "Well, that's 80 cogbucks for a full day's work. Like I said, the value of a jellybean is hard to calculate, but the closest thing to a real world value I could figure out was 175-178 jellybeans for every cogbuck. Not an exact science, but I do what I can."

"Are cogbucks truly so valuable?" Wendy asked in awe.

"Sure. Our economy is very stable and inflation continues to stimulate growth," Adam explained, though it was clear Wendy still didn't understand, "Eh, the point is you have a lot of jellybeans, and I have a couple cogbucks to add to my coffers. Everybody wins."

"I don't know how to thank you," Wendy replied gratefully.

"Don't thank me. Thank your boss," Adam waved off easily, "Anyway, here's your bag. Try not to spend it all in one place."

"Of course not. Thank you, sir!" Wendy exclaimed, "Uh...I don't know how to get home with all this."

"Don't you have a portal?" Adam asked condescendingly.

"I do, but it only goes to Toon Central," Wendy admitted sheepishly, "Young Toons with no training aren't allowed to travel too far."

"No problem. I've got just the thing," Adam replied with a smarmy smile, "This is an all-access teleportation hole. All experienced Toons have them. I swiped this one from a depressed rabbit after a coin mint battle. It's yours for a mere 2,000 jellybeans. I can take them right out of the sack if you like."

Wendy felt guilty about buying something that had belonged to a Toon that lost it's joy and possibly it's life in a Cog battle, but having a supercharged teleportation hole felt like a liberating idea. She nodded silently, and Adam quickly took the jellybeans out of her bag and pocketed them. He then gave her the pocket dimension just as promised. Adam lastly handed her the large sack, and Wendy toppled over while trying to hold it up.

She looked at the Cog slowly walking back to his office and didn't quite know what to think. On the one hand he could hurt her Laff without even trying and didn't seem to care where he got his merchandise. On the other hand he didn't seem malicious, but rather the product of a privileged and greedy society.

_Why would Cogs even bother with Toontown_? Wendy thought to herself. _They already have so much. Their nation is practically paved with jellybeans, and they're all so organized. If I store some of the jellybeans in my teleportation hole and give Mother the rest, I can save up to eventually move away from my family. I could start a new life where no one will ever hurt me or use me again. Maybe I could even...maybe I could even move to Cog Nation._

Wendy didn't know where that thought came from, and knew it was a foolish idea, but she couldn't help but entertain the notion. If Cog Nation was so rich and so full of career opportunities, then that was a good place to be. Then again there was probably some 'No Toons Allowed' policy or something. She didn't know. She just knew her idea was silly...yet intriguing.

* * *

Wendy looked up at the starry sky as she walked down the dirt road to her estate. She was grateful that the sky was still in its night phase, that way maybe she could get some much needed rest. She had put in a full day with the Legal Eagle and then had to take a harrowing side journey to Cashbot HQ. Needless to say, she was pooped.

Just as Wendy was about to open her front door however, the curtain for the night sky was folded in and the moon and stars swiftly sunk down to who-knows-where. In their place the daylight sky was pulled up and the sun rose to greet the citizens of Toontown.

Normally Wendy liked seeing the sunrise, but today she was bent over from tiredness and low Laff and just wanted to _rest_. When she heard the baby crying and her mother shuffling around the house, she knew the bliss of slumber wasn't going to happen for quite a while.

Wendy went inside and tried to sneak past her mother to go to her room, but estates were small and trying to get past her family was nearly impossible. Her brother Tom noticed Wendy and shouted "Hey Ma! Wendy's up!"

"Perfect timing!" Her mother exclaimed, and Wendy groaned softly to herself, "Wendy! Get your _mewing_ butt in here! Wacky Macky needs a diaper change!"

Wendy sighed defeatedly and shuffled over to the nursery to take care of the baby. In her mind she imagined saving up enough jellybeans to leave, and it was just enough to keep her Laff meter up.

After changing the stinky diaper, Wendy put the baby back in the crib and went off to her room. Before she got there however, she could hear the shrill shriek of her mother once again calling for her attention and/or assistance. Wendy hung her head and went to where her mother was, this time in the kitchen.

"Wendy! You went to work yesterday, right?" Sophie asked gruffly.

"Yes, Mother," Wendy replied, her eyes drooping as she fought sleep.

"So, where're my jellybeans?" Sophie practically growled, "You did bring back my jellybeans, right?"

"Yes, Mother. One Moment," Wendy replied compliantly.

Wendy reached into her pocket and pulled out a small brown bag. She had to stop herself from smiling as she handed over the jellybeans to her mother. Sophie counted out 200 jellybeans and was pleased by the generous amount. Wendy didn't tell her about the 10,800 jellybeans she had left besides those, and for a moment Wendy allowed herself a sense of impish glee over cheating her overbearing mother out of 'her' jellybeans.

"What kinda job did you get?" Sophie asked in a voice that sounded critical but was actually as close to approving as she got, "This is grownup money."

"The Brrrgh pays more generously than Toon Central," Wendy explained.

In truth, The Brrrgh actually did pay more, so Wendy wasn't technically lying. The part she left out however was that Cogs paid more generously than Toons.

"So, your job is that good, huh?" Sophie asked again, and Wendy nodded, "Well then, I guess if you can pull in this many jellybeans I'll let you keep working, but you don't neglect your responsibilities at home!"

"No, Mother," Wendy agreed, choosing to not confront her big scary mother at this time.

"Now, go pull some weeds out of the garden!" Sophie ordered.

"Um, actually Mother, I had a long day yesterday and I really need to-" Wendy stammered.

"NOW!" Sophie screamed.

Wendy squeaked in fright and ran out to the garden to begin tending to Sophie's prized flowers. Sophie loved her garden and had even placed in a few flower growing competitions, so Wendy knew better than to mess with her mother on this matter. She could pull the weeds, wash up, and then get some sleep. Surely it wouldn't take _that_ long.

Wendy sat on her knees and dutifully pulled weeds as the hot sun beat down on her. On days like this it felt like even the sun of Toontown was against her. If it weren't for Frank she would have nothing to live for in this blasted place.

That thought made her fantasize about Cog Nation again. She imagined herself as a Cog, though she didn't know their types so it was mostly her picturing her own mousy self as a robot. She imagined her automaton self going to work in an office, chatting with Cog coworkers, and then going home to a lovely pink Doodle and drinking coffee just like a Cog would. No parents, no bratty brother, no gardens, no parties, no messes, just order and peace...

Wendy fell asleep from thinking about these beautiful thoughts, and when she woke up it was to her brother poking her with a stick.

"Hey, Wendy! Hey, Wendy!" Tom's annoying voice shouted, "You dead? Can I have your stuff if you're dead?"

"Uh..." Wendy forced the fog of slumber away from herself, and then leapt up in surprise when Tom poked her in the side, "Eep! Tom, what are you _doing_!?"

"You passed out like an hour ago and squashed Ma's flowers. I just wanted to let you know I'm telling."

"Oh no! No no no! You can't tell Mother I ruined her flowerbed!" Wendy pleaded, "She'll kill me!"

"Yeah, well that's on you, Rip Van Stinkle," Tom sneered, "Hey Ma!"

"Wait!" Wendy squealed as she pulled Tom's arm down so he would be closer to her eye level, "Would you not tell her if I paid you?"

"Paid me? With what? Your stupid golf clubs?" Tom asked snidely.

"I'll give you 20 jellybeans to not tell," Wendy bargained.

"Hm...You really got that much?" Tom asked curiously.

Wendy then pulled out a few jellybeans from her teleportation hole, and Tom's eyes lit up at the sight.

"Deal," Tom whispered just as their mother starting waddling over to the scene.

When Sophie saw the kids standing in front of her flattened flowerbed, she gasped in shock and anger. Her brows soon furrowed and her eyes glared daggers at the duo.

"Which one of you little monsters destroyed my tulips!?" Sophie bellowed.

"I did it," Tom replied quickly, "I was playing with my football and accidentally tackled into the flowers. I'm sorry, Ma."

Sophie looked at Wendy, as if secretly accusing her, but then her gaze softened as it went back to Tom. Tom put on his most convincing contrite face, and Sophie bought it hook, line, and sinker.

"It's okay, baby," Sophie cooed as she hugged her son, "Accidents happen. I know you didn't mean to. Why don't you wash up before lunch, okay sweetie?"

Tom sniffed as if he had just been crying and said "Thanks, Ma. You're the best."

Wendy would have laughed if her mother wasn't still within earshot. Tom was such a drama king, and despite being one of the biggest troublemakers in the neighborhood their mother always believed his pleas of innocence and his half-hearted apologies. Sometimes Wendy wished her parents loved her as much as their natural children, but today she was just grateful Tom was such a good liar.

After the flower incident and a lunch that consisted of jelly sandwiches and milk, Wendy's next task was to fix the lawnmower. She was feeling a little better by this time so was able to focus on the task of pulling rocks and mud out of the gears. She tutted to herself, realizing her brother must have tried to mow the lawn. He knew nothing about mower safety and was lucky he didn't fling rocks into a window or something.

She had to be careful to not get her gloves caught in the gears, and by now her pretty pink dress was covered in grass stains from all the yard work she had done. Oh well, beauty like this didn't come cheap, and Wendy was just as proud of the lawn as the rest of her family.

While she was working on unclogging the blades, a finger tapped her on the shoulder, and she feared it would be her mother with another task. When she turned around however she was pleasantly surprised to see Frank standing there instead. Frank smiled at her, but then turned serious as he gave a shrugging gesture, and Wendy knew what that meant.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here yesterday," Wendy said apologetically, "Mother made me stay home and work."

Frank made a face Wendy couldn't quite read. He seemed maybe...skeptical? Pondering? Curious? It was a face Wendy hadn't seen him make before and therefore had no clue what it meant.

Brushing aside his previous question, Frank then hoisted up his golf bag, asking Wendy if she wanted to go to Acorn Acres and play a few rounds.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," Wendy winced, "Mother has given me a long list of chores today. After I fix the lawnmower I need to feed Wacky Macky, plant new flowers, scrub the floors, and wash the windows. I am _soo_ tired, it's making me dizzy. Maybe we can play another time?"

Frank nodded in understanding, and then pointed to the sun and looped around with his finger once to ask if tomorrow was okay.

"I'm sorry, no," Wendy replied sadly, "I have work tomorrow."

Frank then raised an eyebrow, asking what work she had to do.

"Oh, uh, it's work for Mother! Yes, Mother again!" Wendy quickly told him to cover her tracks.

Frank again nodded, slower this time, and then sat down next to Wendy to help her figure out the problem with the lawnmower. If they couldn't play together, then at least they could work together. Wendy smiled gratefully, so glad to have a friend like Frank.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" Sophie suddenly shouted as she ran out of the house, "Hey, dog! You're gonna break our mower!"

Frank just rolled his eyes at her and continued studying the lawnmower with Wendy. Sophie fumed at seeing she was being ignored, so she grabbed a patio umbrella from their picnic table and whacked Frank over the head with it!

Frank scowled irritably as he rubbed his sore head, and Sophie came around for another swing. Frank dodged, but barely since he was so tall. Wendy hid behind the mower so she wouldn't get hit too, and Frank looked at Sophie with pure ire.

"Get off my property, you _meow_ dog!" Sophie yelled, "Wendy can't afford to have you holding her back anymore! She's got a job now, and she's not gonna have you standing in her way, now git!"

Frank ran off with Sophie chasing him with the umbrella, but fortunately for him she wasn't much for running and gave up when he was halfway down the road.

As Frank started walking back to his orphanage in Toon Central he couldn't help but wonder about Wendy. She said she was working for her mother the day before, but Frank knew that was a lie. He came over that day, and had an awkward yet unproductive conversation with Wendy's father. He had said Wendy wasn't home. Now Sophie claims Wendy has a new job despite Wendy not telling him anything about it.

Something weird was definitely going on with Wendy, and Frank couldn't help but think it might be something bad. He hoped Wendy wasn't in trouble, but if she was then it was his duty to find out.


	8. Medical Emergency

_**MadnessJones:** This chapter was written by CarreraCT and edited by me. We hope you like it :)_

**_CarreraCT:_**_ We finally finished another chapter. Let's pretend it was just because Jones and I were having serious debates about how this chapter would go and not at all because I took forever to write anything. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 8

Medical Emergency

Wendy's new lifestyle of working for Kevin while also working under the tyrannical rule of her mother Sophie had no room for relaxation any more. For Wendy, the constant going back and forth while trying to keep her composure was pure torture.

Her original hope had been that if she was working full time then her mother would allow her to do fewer chores, but her mother wasn't so merciful.

Ironically, Kevin gave that mercy instead by agreeing to give her weekends off, granting her some form of relief. However, Sophie was not so kind. She made Wendy clean and work around the house every single day of the week, and actually increased Wendy's chores on her free days!

As the weeks rolled by Wendy was being ground to a pulp from her workloads, and it seemed like it was never going to let up. Perhaps she was just doomed to be a servant to her family forever. She hadn't even seen Frank in what felt like ages. Perhaps he was scared off for good because of Sophie.

Wendy was up once again up early on the weekend to begin working on her mother's newly grown tulips (which Sophie had made her pay for despite her brother's best attempts of deception). Her head was already spinning as soon as she opened her eyes.

She had begun to feel sick recently, constantly nursing a headache most days. However her mother was unwilling to give her time to rest, nor take her to someone to make sure she was okay, but she was getting plenty of ringing ears from her mother screaming at her to pick up the pace.

Wendy was a very strong-willed mouse, but even an iron will has its limits. Unfortunately, she finally hit her limit one morning as she lost control of her body and collapsed a second time into Sophie's tulips, once again ruining them.

Her mother was furious with her when no one came to cover for Wendy this time, but it became worrying that Wendy was not even reacting to her screams of disapproval when she came out and saw the damage. It became apparent Wendy was actually in serious trouble, which meant Sophie had lost her new income and her servant.

With much begrudging, she finally took Wendy to one of the many Toony doctors in the town. Sophie even made sure Wendy was carried since she couldn't get up. Well, carried by Leo anyways.

They arrived at a place called Funny Bone Emergency Room after finding out the owner had the cheapest rates in the field. Sophie barged in, slamming the door open so hard it swung into the wall it was hinged to. The brown cat at the reception desk woke with a start, flustered by the commotion.

"You! How much is it to fix this Toon?" Sophie spat out, almost disgusted that she had to spend her money on anything but herself or her son.

"Fix...?" The cat repeated; confused.

She was just a nurse that healed Toons, not fixed them like some sort of machine. Not to mention she had just been woken from a nap, and was now having to deal with this rude and callous cat.

"Yeah. Fix this blasted mouse for me. She fell unconscious while she was doing my...uh, _her_ garden for some reason," Sophie tried again, calming down slightly so this dimwitted cat would just do her job already.

"Uh...well, I can try to Toon her up? Was she attacked by a Cog recently? Oh, my name is Nurse Nancy by the way," Nancy offered, not really understanding what had happened as she held out her hand.

Sophie simply crossed her arms in response. Usually Toons would come in panicking and crying out that their friend was depressed by a Name Dropper or Tightwad, or when some big invasion of a high-tier Cog took place in her area; not asking how much she charged.

"No, she's never fought a Cog. Or she shouldn't anyways. She stays home most days," Sophie explained impatiently.

"Oh uh...I don't know if I can help with that if it isn't depression caused by the Cogs. I can try for yo-" Nancy began but Sophie cut her off.

"Yes you better try! I need her to be back to her old self!" Sophie barked at the poor cat.

Leo, who had smartly remained silent the whole time, came up and showed Wendy's limp body. Nancy suddenly looked very worried for the mouse.

"Oh my! Yes, let's get her into the back room quickly before it's too late!" Nancy gasped.

Nancy then took Wendy from Leo and rushed her into the back room. She laid the little mouse out on a comfy chair that she had already reclined and began to examine her. Nancy pulled out her stethoscope and placed it on Wendy's head, chest, and stomach. (She had no idea what she was listening for, she just liked the motion). She scribbled down a few notes about her patient's condition, outfit, and fur color.

All the while that Nancy was writing, Sophie was glaring at the two; counting the time that Wendy could have been working rather than being here. She hated it even more since Wendy was on a very comfortable couch being taken care of while Sophie had to squeeze her squat body into a chair really meant for thin, tall toons instead.

She was hoping Leo was at least struggling like her, but he wasn't. This was partly because he was thin and only medium height, but mainly it was because he chose to stand and lean against the wall; silently watching the whole process and mentally taking notes.

Over an hour went by for them. Nancy was trying everything she knew. She had used happy music, snowflakes, allowed Wendy a bit of sleep, given her flowers and nuts, and even a few starfish for good measure. She even tried juggling and dancing for Wendy, but nothing worked.

"This is one of the worst cases I've ever seen. It's a miracle she is still here, Sophie," Nancy breathed.

"Mrs. Sophie to you! There must be a way to get her back. I need her!" Sophie whined.

"Well let me try one last thing. Perhaps she will like this," Nancy said as she bounced over to her freezer and grabbed an ice cream cone.

She chose chocolate for this one, a more hidden heath booster than the original vanilla ones that were all around Toontown Central. After all, desperate times call for desperate measures. She pulled off the wrapping and then stuck the ice cream into Wendy's mouth. Every Toon in the room waited with bated breath, hoping against all hope it would work.

For a moment nothing happened, but then Wendy's jaw began to move. It rhythmically moved up and down as she unconsciously ate the ice cream.

It was just what Nancy was hoping for. She gave Wendy another one when she had finished the first, and as soon as she did, Wendy's eyes fluttered open.

"Mmm...Mama?" Came a quiet and weak voice from Wendy's lips.

"No, it's Nurse Nancy, honey. You somehow became extremely depressed. You're in my office right now."

"Kevin?" Wendy muttered; still half asleep.

Nurse Nancy looked at her parents.

"I think she is asking for you, Kevin" Nancy said, making eye contact with Leo.

"Me? I'm Leo, Nancy," Tom corrected.

"Oh. Then who's Kevin?"

"It must be that brat of a dog. I knew I should have stopped him sooner," Sophie snarled.

Nancy wasn't sure what to make of that, so she decided to ignore it and question Leo.

"You should ask her about him. He seems to be a comfort to her," She advised.

"But her friend's name is Frank," Leo told her.

"Oh. Well then find out who Kevin is. If you can get a full name I could look him up on the Toon sheets and ask him to come help her."

"Yes, we will do that. How much for those chocolate ice creams?" Leo inquired politely, but Sophie looked very irritated by this.

"Oh, I don't know. How about 20 jellybeans for 5?"

The last thing Sophie wanted to do is spend anything on Wendy, but she did not want to lose her servant either. The thought then occurred to her that Wendy was working now, so why not just make her work more to pay for her ice creams? Seemed reasonable enough for her.

"Yeah, sure, we can do that," Sophie grumbled as she grabbed the required amount from her pocket.

Sophie only handed her 15 jellybeans, but Nancy didn't bother to count them, instead choosing to toss them into her jar on a table nearby; blending into the thousands already in there.

Once Nancy did that, she grabbed 5 ice creams and held them out to Sophie, who swiped them off her hands fairly rudely.

"Thanks," Sophie said almost sarcastically.

"Make sure she gets plenty of rest and happiness," Nancy reminded them as Leo lifted up Wendy again.

The two left the doctor's office at last and headed back for home, Leo holding Wendy, and Sophie snacking on one of Wendy's ice creams in front of them.

Wendy was barely conscious, but she could see her mother stealing her life line. She wanted to scream or shout or plead. Something. Anything. But she was still far too exhausted and worn out to make any noise but a small groan. Sophie didn't seem to hear Wendy's futile moan however, or if she did she chose to ignore it.

Wendy groaned again, waving an arm in Sophie's direction, but to no avail. She began to weep quietly. This was just too much for her. She was apparently meant to be sad forever.

Amazingly however, she felt herself being adjusted by Leo. He made her face him and laid her to where her head was on his shoulder comfortably.

Wendy began to cry helplessly anyway, and despite her weakened body and emotional state, she was shocked that Leo would do this for her. It was like he was actually trying to be a father for her for the first time as far as she could really remember.

He held her this way the entire trip back, which allowed her to get ahold of herself and calm down. Sophie had already had another 2 ice creams, but Wendy was beyond caring at this point. She was sure Sophie would make her buy them anyway so all it meant was less for her to buy in the first place.

Instead she watched as Leo took her inside the house. It was surprisingly quiet in their neighborhood, but maybe that was because it was getting late already.

Wendy was carried to her room and laid in her bed. It was not anywhere near as comfortable as that office couch she was in at the doctor's office, but it was her safe space. Leo left the room, which allowed Wendy to just focus on trying to heal.

She laid on her barren bed for a few minutes, but then Leo came back yet again, and laid an old blanket on it. It had several holes and was an ugly color of brown, but it was a blanket. Wendy snuggled in the somewhat-soft material immediately.

The day had been absolutely terrible for her. But then right at the end, it had changed a bit. She had never seen Leo like this before. She had been adopted about 5 years prior, and in all that time Leo was nothing but a husk of a Toon that allowed Sophie to walk all over everyone. What had changed?

Wendy tried to sleep for several hours, yet it was all to no avail. She was comfortable for once, but her mind was racing about her adoptive father. What made him comfort her now? This was not the first time she'd completely broken down like that.

Last time she had lost her composure was shortly after she was first adopted. She had to leave her friend Frank and the other kids at the orphanage, and she was feeling homesick. Sophie had given her a present, and Wendy was excited that her new adoptive mother cared so much. It was the first gift she had ever gotten. It turned out however that the gift was rusty gardening tools, and Sophie only gave them to Wendy so Wendy could work on Sophie's flowers.

Wendy had cried her eyes red that day. That so-called _gift_ had dashed her dreams of a loving family, and it was devastating for her, but Leo had not been paying attention then. So why now?

She was about to fall asleep at last, but she suddenly heard arguing downstairs.

This wasn't unusual, but she heard her name muffled a few times and curiosity got to her. So she pulled her 'new' blanket off and cracked open her door just enough to hear them clearer. It was one of the perks of a small house.

"I am _not_ giving her a break. She missed all day today and that's more than I ever should give. She has too much to catch up on," Sophie argued feverishly.

"But Sophie, she's very sick. If we don't ease up on her soon, she might fade away from depression," Leo said quietly.

"She won't. She knows better than to leave without my permission."

"She would leave without anyone's permission, even her own, if she gets too depressed. What if I took over for her tomorrow then?" Leo calmly suggested.

"No. You're an old cat. You can't handle what she must do, and I am not paying for you to see that overpriced doctor if you throw your back out or something," Sophie whined, already imagining the money she would lose if he got hurt.

"Then why don't I help her?"

"You will do no such thing! Wendy must do it alone and that's final. You understand, Leo?" Sophie growled, forcing Leo into an easy submission.

"Yes dear, I get it," Leo sighed in defeat.

Wendy could hear footsteps approaching, so she quickly shut her door, jumped back into bed, and got the blanket back over her.

Her door never opened, but it didn't matter. The moment she got back into bed, she was out like a light.

* * *

The next morning, Sophie swung open Wendy's door with a bang. Wendy didn't move, which irked the demanding orange cat quite a bit. So, she came to Wendy's bedside and shook the poor mouse back into reality.

"Wake up, you lazy mouse! Time for work. You've fallen way behind and ruined my garden too, so you better get started on that before you go to work," Sophie ordered with some bitterness in her tongue.

She grabbed Wendy from her bed and then grabbed her blanket, ignoring how hot Wendy felt.

"And don't steal my things, you little thief!" She cried out, waking up Wendy in a hurry.

"Yes...ma'am..." Wendy mumbled as her head bobbed around randomly with each step the two went down.

She was practically dragged out by Sophie as they headed downstairs and went outside. It was an annoyingly hot and humid morning, which was making poor Wendy's life even harder.

She couldn't deny it. She was very sick. She was hot, lightheaded, couldn't taste anything, and couldn't even pick up smells from her nose; which was a big warning sign for her. She also knew she couldn't tell her mother because she was very far behind on her chores. Her only saving grace was to get to Kevin as quickly as she could. He at least was easier on her, whether it was because he wanted to personally or not.

Her mother finally let go of her arm when they arrived at a wheelbarrow full of brand new tulips.

"Now you little brat, you're gonna replant all my flowers, and then you'll make sure never to ruin them again. You're going to work to make up what you owe me, don't worry about that," Sophie huffed as she turned away and went back inside before Wendy could even say anything back to her.

The little mouse only sighed and was about to start until a fit of coughs overtook her. She doubled over with each cough as it took all of her energy to expel. After 5 hard coughs, she sniffled and grabbed her shovel to dig into the ground. It was even harder than it was before to work, but she had no choice in the manner.

Her progress was, inevitably, close to a snail's pace, and she could sense Sophie glaring at her through the windows. She was trying to hold in her coughs so her mother didn't see her, but the urge to cough became too overwhelming as she dropped her shovel and a tulip to place her hands on her knees. A powerful cough rocketed out of her, forcing her to almost squat down.

"Alright, enough!" Sophie shrieked as she approached Wendy, "You're causing enough damage already. Just go to your job and bring me back more than normal so I can pay for your damage again."

She grabbed Wendy by her collar and threw her onto the road. Wendy was relieved by this for the most part. She felt she could ask Kevin for some help with whatever was affecting her.

Once her mother was out of sight, Wendy got out her new portal from her shticker book after setting it for The Brrrgh, and once the portal formed below her, she hopped through; watching it close behind her.

Meanwhile Frank has been watching Wendy all morning. The only thing Frank wanted to do right now was help her in any way. Sadly, he was banned from her home and he knew all too well Sophie was watching.

He witnessed Wendy's collapse the day before and he was just about to come out to save her, but Sophie came out too quickly, which revealed that she had been watching the whole time that day too.

Unsurprisingly, she came out again while Wendy was busy wheezing and coughing her lungs out just to scold her about her laziness or something he assumed. He also watched as Sophie forced her daughter to go to work despite her poor condition. Frank knew Wendy would do as she was told, and wasn't surprised when he saw the portal.

He was a bit sad he couldn't talk to her still. She was always gone now thanks to her mother.

Wait! He could just meet her at the playground and walk with her to her work thingy. Then they would be able to finally spend some time together!

With an excitement brewing inside of him, he pulled out his personal shticker book and called for his portal to take him to Toontown Central. He knew he could catch up to her since it had only been a few seconds since she left.

However, once he arrived he was dismayed to see the playground was packed full of other Toons. Wendy was an oddly small Toon, but that also made her stand out a bit. Normally Frank would still have no problem finding her.

Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be seen. While Frank was mute, that didn't affect how aware he was of who was around him. Not only could he not see her, he couldn't smell her scent either.

He thought it was extremely unlikely that she could have passed through without leaving any smell behind. Somehow he had missed her. He silently grumbled as he sat down at the steps that led up to the plaza for the Toon Bank, Town Hall, and Toon HQ. Where could she have gone?

* * *

Wendy meanwhile hopped through her portal to The Brrrgh. She had just saved herself at least an hour of time by buying that portal from the shady Bean Counter Cog. She was of course dismayed that none of the Cog HQs were accessible by this portal, but skipping two whole playgrounds was certainly something credible.

The tiny mouse scurried down to the Lawbot HQ as she had done for the past few weeks. In a weird sense, she was becoming used to the cold. After over a month of it, it sort of helped her wake up better for Kevin to be more...good? No. Useful? Oh yes, efficient!

She had learned that word recently from him, and apparently _efficiency_ was a big thing for Cogs. If you weren't effient you weren't needed. She wished they were a little bit looser with such standards, but in the end it made them incredibly productive and capable of rebounding from devastating losses and defeats.

Regardless of whatever term described her, she tried to be punctual as she dashed her way through the tunnel at the end of the street and into the clean lobby of Lawbot HQ.

There was also another new system she was getting used to.

"Miss Jinxsprinkles. Stay where you are for me," A blue two-faced Lawbot ordered.

Wendy did as instructed and waited for the Lawbot to slowly make its way toward her. Compared to Toons, Lawbots were quite slow. By Toon logic taller should have meant faster, or at least the same speed, but for whatever reason bigger Cogs meant slower Cogs. He was significantly shorter than the Legal Eagle for sure, but he still dwarfed her.

"Ready for the next shift?" He asked calmly, and she nodded silently.

He then abruptly lifted her off her feet while holding his hands under her arms, almost like she was an infant with a full diaper, and began to carry her to the steps of the DA Office.

This was a new thing after her superior received complaints from the janitors about a particular assistant of his leaving messes after they had just cleaned the floor. Since she was technically under Cog rules, she did have to obey this humiliating new protocol.

It was awkward at first for her, and also for the Double Talker assigned to her, but it seemed though this particular Double Talker had gotten lessons from the Sellbots and was capable of small talk.

"So how's the morning going, DTL?" Wendy asked calmly as she was carried.

"Quite fine this morning. Very good efficiency today indeed." The Double Talker's left face responded.

"And you, DTR?"

"Could be better. Don't buy his exaggeration. Things can be better," Contradicted his right face.

Wendy never knew the heads were two different mindsets, and it was a bit weird at first. However the Double Talker had helped her get used to it by allowing her to refer to each face as DTL and DTR for left and right. It worked.

"What about you today, then?" DTL inquired curiously.

"Yes, anything new regarding your internship?" DTR added.

"Not much. Just trying to survive long enough to work, and then survive _at_ work it seems," Wendy muttered; annoyed at her mother still.

However, a fit of coughs came over her, and she curled into herself to try to stop the hacking from interfering with other employees' work. The Double Talker stopped immediately, unfamiliar with the strange sounds she was making.

"Something the matter, Miss Jinxsprinkles?" DTL asked.

"No...no...I'm fine, I'm sure," Wendy lied, trying to mask her poor condition, but another coughing fit overwhelmed her again.

"I'm afraid I don't agree with that claim, Miss Jinxsprinkles," DTR protested.

"Don't worry about it, okay? Let's just get there already," Wendy insisted.

Wendy was stressed out due to her illness, but also worried about being late. She didn't want to be sent home early or not be allowed to work under the Legal Eagle. She needed to keep going. However, her body simply wasn't capable of continuing on, and she once again passed out.

* * *

Wendy awoke with a start in a bright room. She was about to move, but a cold hand held her arm down.

Wendy's head shot up to look at who was touching her arm, only to see a purplish-blue head wearing a hat with a red cross on it. The Cog's appearance wasn't the problem however, but rather that big needle he was pushing straight into her arm!

Poor Wendy was frozen stiff with fear as she watched helplessly. What was he _doing_ to her?!

His eyes looked towards here and blinked robotically. Clearly this was a Cog, though Wendy was unfamiliar with this type. Wendy once again stared at the needle, and the glass casing of the syringe glinted forebodingly in the bright florescent lights. The Cog seemed to sense her discomfort, and put a comforting hand on her arm. His voice was surprisingly smooth.

"Easy, Toon. I'm just a medical professional. There's nothing to fear. Your superior told me that you work with us," The Cog stated calmly.

Wendy winced at the needle injecting its colorful contents into her arm right before he pulled it back out and stuck a bandage on it.

"W-what was that?" She nervously asked.

"Medicine. You have a nasty virus and it was not providing a break for your body to catch up," He answered blankly; surprised that she didn't know already.

The Cog was sitting on a rolling chair, which Wendy only noticed once he rolled from her bed to a desk to pick up a clipboard. The sight of a Cog not even bothering to stand up was so silly that it caused Wendy to smile for a moment. That moment died instantly when the Cog looked back at her with an expression that was an odd mixture of stern and concerned.

"So tell me," The Cog began, "Why did you come to work when you were sick? You have several sick days remaining."

"I didn't...I didn't know I was...sick?" Wendy replied, though not understanding what he meant.

"You didn't know you were sick? You're coughing like crazy. That isn't a sign to you?" He asked a bit rudely.

"No, I really didn't. I've never been sick before. Toons don't get sick," Wendy explained.

"Oh, really? No sickness at all, huh?" The 'doctor' asked sarcastically.

The drab looking Cog rolled back to his table and grabbed a rather thick book, bringing it back to where Wendy was laying. He then cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Flatunitis: A Toon that catches this virus will become flat as a pancake, either front to back or side to side, making it very hard for them to move around without being taken for a flight around with the wind," The Cog read.

Wendy scratched her head in confusion. That wasn't exactly a disease.

"Microtenis: This disease will cause any Toon to shrink down to a fraction of their original size for a random amount of time, usually between a week to a month, but can be as short as 30 minutes."

"But that's-"

"Growenmist: Any Toon effected by this will be between up to 4 times their original size. Lasts between a week and a month. Blocus: This virus causes any Toon to bloat full of air in a beachball-like state, rendering them completely immobile for the duration. Can be mild or severe."

Wendy actually remembered something like that. She had rounded out suddenly one day when she was playing with Frank, but she wasn't immobilized by it and it only lasted a few days. It must have been a mild case.

"Is my point clear, Miss Jinxsprinkles?" He mockingly asked. He knew he was right.

"How long have I been asleep again?" She asked, wisely changing the topic.

"A few hours. Tell me, have you passed out before?"

"Yes I did actually. The doctor woke me up with chocolate ice cream," Wendy explained.

The doctor however stopped writing and put his pen down on the clipboard. He couldn't have heard that right.

"Wait. Please tell me that's a Toon joke you have," He said flatly, visibly irritated by what he just heard.

Wendy didn't know what he meant and simply shook her head as a response.

"You feed each other candy when you're sick?" He asked, his voice rising slightly in shock and anger.

Wendy was worried he was going to depress her. She had to escape now! But it was too late. The doctor held her arm down and reached into his pocket.

Wendy didn't scream this time, but she closed her eyes and braced herself for depression. However, she heard what sounded like a bunch of tiny plastic marbles banging into each other and then nothing else.

She opened her eyes and looked back at him to see he was holding a bottle at her.

"You're going to have to take 2 of these each day for 2 weeks to get better, okay?" He instructed; calmer than his last sentence in an instant.

Wendy took the pills from the doctor, but rather than open it she instead threw the entire bottle in the air and opened her mouth to catch it! The Cog had quick reflexes however, and caught the bottle before Wendy could swallow it. Confused, Wendy looked up at him with a perturbed expression.

"I forgot you're a Toon. When I say two of these. I meant these," He corrected himself, letting two small pills fall into her hand, "Don't eat the whole bottle, got it?"

"Oh, okay. Wait, every morning? What will it do?" Wendy inquired, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Helps fight off that cough of yours. Here," The doctor explained.

The doctor got her a glass of water and made her take the pills in her hand. Wendy still looked a little nervous, so the Cog gathered up what little patience he had left and explained.

"You put the two pills in your mouth, then swallow it down with water," The doctor instructed, which she quickly did to please him, "Now then. Your superior has informed me you have no insurance, but because you're a Toon this was a pretty easy fix, and you're a child...Eh, I'll find a cheap rate for you. Probably will be taken out of your paychecks alright?"

The doctor then took out a briefcase and put away his clipboard and pen. When he opened it Wendy could see that there was practically a mountain of office supplies and medicines in there. Wendy was shocked that a Cog had such a cartoony briefcase to hold so many things, but there was no time to ask him questions. She was ushered out of bed and abruptly walked to the door.

"Wait! What's your name? Can we meet again?" Wendy asked as soon as they were outside.

"Afraid not, Miss Jinxsprinkles. I'm going home," The Cog declined, "Personally, you're lucky. If I hadn't been visiting here today, it would have taken days for a doctor to get to you with the proper supplies. Be safe, yeah?"

"Oh...okay, I guess," Wendy responded, a bit saddened that she wasn't able to befriend this Cog who technically had saved her.

"Now then. I'm off to do the rest of my work. You are free for the day so do what you need, but don't overdo it," He instructed as he left her behind, clearly done with the conversation.

"Wait!" Wendy cried out.

He stopped and looked back at her.

"T-thank you," Wendy stammered, a bit embarrassed.

He didn't know what to say to that, so he merely nodded before allowing his propellers to pop out and begin to spin until they were fast enough to pull him off the ground.

Wendy watched as the Cog flew higher and higher, until he was completely out of sight. In a way it mystified Wendy, seeing a Cog fly so high that no one on the ground can see them. Toons couldn't fly without an airplane, not even ducks. For something so heavy to be able to be able to fly, it felt almost...Toony.

She wished she could fly like that, but she was only a Toon. To fly, to be able to go anywhere she wanted, to be free. That errant thought reminded her, she had a free day now! No office work, no garden work, no work! That doctor saved her in more way than one.

Maybe if she could track down Frank, they could play for the rest of the day. But where could he be now? Wendy sighed, knowing Frank could be literally anywhere in Toontown at any time. Frank was a wanderer, and the orphanage didn't keep great track of the children, so he probably wouldn't be home until it got dark out.

Still, the last thing she wanted to do was go home. She had to find something to do. Anything. All she needed was a moment to think of something that she could do to avoid going home.


End file.
